Politics

The Associated Press reports: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says neither he nor President Donald Trump is “very happy” about new sanctions on Russia that Congress has voted to put in place. But he says the sanctions show that Americans are frustrated by Moscow, even though they want the U.S. to have a functional relationship with the nuclear-armed power. Tillerson …

The New York Times reports: Bill Shine, a former co-president of Fox News and top lieutenant to the network’s founder, Roger Ailes, has spoken with White House officials about taking a position on President Trump’s communications team, according to several people briefed on the discussions. Mr. Shine has no political experience outside of producing cable news, and he was forced …

The Hill reports: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is introducing legislation to end the federal prohibition on marijuana and encourage states to legalize pot. The legislation, which Booker will formally roll out later Tuesday during a Facebook event, would amend the Controlled Substance Act to eliminate marijuana’s status as a Schedule 1 drug—a move that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal …

The Daily Beast reports: Corey Lewandowski has been fired. Again. Three sources with knowledge of the situation tell The Daily Beast that the former Trump campaign manager and current informal adviser to the president has been let go from One America News Network, a pro-Trump cable channel pitching itself as an aspiring Fox News. Lewandowski angered OANN leadership with his …

GOP Sen. Jeff Flake goes to TOWN against Trump in an op-ed published tonight by Politico. An excerpt: Who could blame the people who felt abandoned and ignored by the major parties for reaching in despair for a candidate who offered oversimplified answers to infinitely complex questions and managed to entertain them in the process? With hindsight, it is clear …

The Hill reports: CNN says it won’t try to hire ousted White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, a company spokesman told Buzzfeed on Monday afternoon. Scaramucci has experience in cable news, having hosted “Wall Street Week” on Fox Business and serving as a contributor on Fox News. CNN made a similar declaration when White House press secretary Sean Spicer resigned …

The Washington Post reports: The blink-and-you-missed-him former White House communications director is listed as deceased in the new Harvard Law School alumni directory, which arrived in alums’ mailboxes the very week that “The Mooch” became the most talked-about guy in politics. An asterisk by the 1989 graduate’s name indicates that he was reported dead since the last directory, which was …

Twitchy is thrilled: We still don’t know if Kid Rock is running for Senate in Michigan or not, but he’s doing all the right things to reach out to voters. Like this greeting to his fans over on Twitter. When will we see him campaign with President Trump? And notice the male-to-female ratio on the plane? That means Mr. Rock …

New York Magazine reports: Governor Chris Christie, who had a 15 percent approval rating in New Jersey before Beachgate, has wisely decided to take his tough-guy routine on the road this summer. On Sunday, Christie, whose son works for the Brewers, was in Milwaukee to take in a Brewers-Cubs game. When heckled by a Cubs fan, Christie got right in …

The New York Daily News reports: President Trump left his daughter in the dark when he abruptly tried pulling the plug on allowing transgender men and women in the military. Ivanka Trump witnessed her father’s rash decision-making with the rest of the world — through Twitter — and even it surprised her, according to a Politico report Sunday, citing White …

After what was arguably the most chaotic week of his relentlessly chaotic presidency and an hour before his new chief of staff will be sworn in, this morning Trump declared that everything is totally not chaotic. Trump also doubled-down on his threat to stop stop subsidizing health insurance for members of Congress. From the Washington Post: The Affordable Care Act …

From the right wing Washington Times: Matt Drudge of Drudge Report fame didn’t take kindly to Sen. John McCain’s recent thumbs-down vote on Obamacare repeal. In a tweet that quickly amassed 5,500 or so likes, and near 2,800 retweets, Drudge simply wrote: “Corruption has so many faces …” The message was atop a photo of a McCain campaign photo that …

The Hill reports: Charles Ramsey, the former Washington, D.C. police chief and Philadelphia police commissioner, early Monday blasted comments from President Trump during which the president appeared to encourage members of law enforcement to rough up suspects. “This is the president of the United States. He’s commander-in-chief, not a stand-up comic,” Ramsey said on CNN’s “New Day.” “Words matter.” Ramsey …

The New York Times reports: President Vladimir V. Putin announced on Sunday that the American diplomatic mission in Russia would have to cut its staff by 755 employees, a response to the new American sanctions that escalated the tensions between Washington and Moscow. “Over 1,000 employees — diplomats and technical workers — worked and continue to work today in Russia; …

Raw Story reports: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said over the weekend that Republicans would “stick the landing” on a major tax reform bill after failing to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care reform law. “It is more important to us than anything that we get tax reform done,” Ryan told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. “Because we …

CNN reports: Two days after Republicans in the Senate failed to roll back Obamacare, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said there should be a government-funded health insurance option “in every state in this country.” “If people don’t like the private insurance that they’re getting, they should have a Medicare-type public option available in every state in this country,” Sanders said on …

The Hill reports: President Trump visited his golf course in Virginia on Sunday morning. The presidential motorcade arrived at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va. shortly after 9:30 a.m., according to a White House pool report. This marks Trump’s 43rd trip to one of his golf properties since taking office, according to a NBC News tracker. Trump also …

Detroit’s CBS affiliate reports: Senator Kid Rock? It’s not as crazy as it might sound. Poll results released on Friday show that Robert Richie — also known as performer Kid Rock — would have the lead among Republicans in the primary race. According to polling results from Target Insyght, Richie would earn 33 percent of the votes in the Republican …

The Washington Examiner reports: White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday that President Trump would determine next week if the administration will make cost-sharing reduction payments to insurance companies. The payments, called CSRs, subsidize insurers for reducing co-pays and deductibles for low-income Obamacare customers. The administration’s reluctance to say if they’re going to make those payments have been blamed by …

From the Hollywood Reporter: Anthony Scaramucci seems plenty busy with his duties as communications director for President Donald Trump’s White House, but apparently he’s got time enough to help make an upcoming HBO movie. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Scaramucci, when he’s not trading inappropriate barbs with hostile reporters or former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, is …