Trump Administration

Politico reports: Justice Department officials have communicated to Robert Mueller that the department expects him to limit his congressional testimony this week to the public findings of his 448-page report, according to one current and one former U.S. official familiar with the preparations. In extensive discussions since the former special counsel was subpoenaed on June 25 to testify, department officials …

Politico reports: Vice President Mike Pence was one short plane ride away from shaking hands with an alleged interstate drug dealer. Pence abruptly canceled his trip to Manchester, N.H., earlier this month but never said why he was pulled from Air Force Two at the last minute. Jeff Hatch, who agreed in federal court Friday to plead guilty and will …

Florida Politics reports: With the U.S. set to play host for next year’s G7 meeting of world leaders, the Donald Trump administration is considering using Trump National Doral to host the event. As President, Trump has utilized his properties in an unprecedented manner. While Trump resigned from the Trump Organization prior to being inaugurated, his family still controls the trust …

NPR reports: The Trump administration is planning changes to the U.S. citizenship test. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says it is revising the test to ensure that “it continues to serve as an accurate measure of a naturalization applicant’s civics knowledge.” The test was introduced in 1986 and last revised in 2008. In a USCIS statement, acting Director Ken …

Politico reports: Constant infighting among top officials. Sudden departures of senior staffers without explanation. A leader who is disengaged and prone to falling asleep in meetings. The Commerce Department has reached its apex of dysfunction under Wilbur Ross, according to four people with knowledge of the inner workings of the department. The 81-year-old Commerce secretary, who has for months endured …

The Hill reports: Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday pressed White House senior adviser Stephen Miller about the “send her back” chant targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) at a Trump campaign rally in North Carolina. The exchange came during an interview in which Wallace repeatedly pressed Miller about Trump’s recent comments and his history of controversial statements. Miller responded …

Last night the Washington Post published a detailed breakdown of the GOP’s frantic attempt to mitigate damage from Trump’s “go back to where you came from” tweets, which resulted in a rare condemnation resolution passed by the House. An excerpt: The White House vote-counters initially feared as many as 50 Republicans might defect to support the resolution, and Trump ordered …

The Guardian reports: The US government has rejected a proposed ban on a toxic pesticide linked to brain damage in children, dismissing a growing body of research on the health hazards of a widely used agricultural chemical. The EPA announced in a ruling Thursday that it supported farmers’ continued use of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that growers have long sprayed on …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump is likely to nominate Eugene Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to be the next Labor secretary, according to three sources familiar with the plans. The younger Scalia, a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, is a management-side attorney who in 2006 argued on behalf of Wal-Mart against …

The New York Times reports: A new report by staff members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the safety of the nation’s 59 aging nuclear power plants, recommends that the commissioners significantly weaken or reduce safety inspections of the plants. The report, published Tuesday, comes after a yearlong consultation and public meeting process, including views from the Nuclear Energy …

CBS News reports: The House voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for obstructing a probe into the administration’s failed bid to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The House scheduled the vote after Barr and Ross withheld documents that had been subpoenaed by the Oversight and …

Reuters reports: President Trump announced Tuesday that he plans to appoint former Fox News contributor Monica Crowley to be the next spokeswoman for the Treasury Department. Crowley, who currently serves as the department’s senior adviser for public affairs, will serve as an assistant Treasury secretary for public affairs, according to the release. Crowley previously bowed out of a bid to …

Mediaite reports: Republican operative Jason Miller, the former communications chief for the Trump campaign and transition team, said he hired numerous prostitutes and visited “hand job” massage parlors as recently as a few months ago in a new videotaped deposition. Miller made the admission while testifying on May 30 in Washington D.C. in connection to his lawsuit against the digital …

Bloomberg Law reports: A federal judge in New York on Tuesday signed an order permanently blocking the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, days after President Trump gave up on his efforts to get such a question on next year’s census. New York and immigrant advocacy groups successfully sued to block the question. But even …

NBC News reports: White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Tuesday responded to questions about President Donald Trump’s attacks on four congresswomen of color by asking a reporter about his heritage. Andrew Feinberg, a White House reporter for Breakfast Media, a website about politics and technology, asked Conway, “If the president was not telling these four congresswomen to return to their …

“What the president is doing is — we are tired — sick and tired — of many people in this country. Forget these four. They represent a dark underbelly of people in this country of people who are not respecting our troops, are not giving them the resources and the respect that they deserve. They voted against the military aid. …

The Hill reports: Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served President Trump’s White House communications director, said on Tuesday that the president’s attack on progressive congresswomen of color was “racist and unacceptable.” Scaramucci in a tweet called out Trump after the president suggested on Sunday that the group of lawmakers “go back” where they came from. Trump’s tweets were thought to be …

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department will not bring federal charges against a New York City police officer in the death of Eric Garner, ending a yearslong inquiry into a case that sharply divided officials and prompted national protests over excessive force by the police, according to three people briefed on the decision. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn intend …

Politico reports: White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway on Monday defied a congressional subpoena, refusing to show up for testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee about her violations of the Hatch Act, and prompting House Democrats to threaten to hold her in contempt of Congress. In a letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the chairman of the panel, White …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump has told aides and allies that he is considering removing Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross after a stinging Supreme Court defeat on adding a citizenship question to the census, according to multiple people familiar with the conversations. While Trump has previously expressed frustration with the 81-year-old Ross, in particular over failed trade negotiations, Ross’s long …