The Commentariat -- July 8, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Patrick Greenfield of the Guardian: "A woman who was exposed to the nerve agent novichok in Amesbury, Wiltshire, has died in hospital. The Metropolitan police have launched a murder investigation after Dawn Sturgess, 44, from Durrington, died after handling an item contaminated with the nerve agent on 30 June. Her partner Charlie Rowley, 45, who was also taken ill after being exposed to the nerve agent, remains in a critical condition in hospital." Mrs. McC: And Donald Trump is having a friendly tête-à-tête with Vladimir Putin this week.

** Words Fail. Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times: "A resolution to encourage breast-feeding was expected to be approved quickly and easily by the hundreds of government delegates who gathered this spring in Geneva for the United Nations-affiliated World Health Assembly.... Then the United States delegation, embracing the interests of infant formula manufacturers, upended the deliberations.... When [efforts to water down the resolution] failed, they turned to threats.... If Ecuador..., which had planned to introduce the measure..., refused to drop the resolution, Washington would unleash punishing trade measures and withdraw crucial military aid. The Ecuadorean government quickly acquiesced.... In the end, the Americans' efforts were mostly unsuccessful. It was the Russians who ultimately stepped in to introduce the measure -- and the Americans did not threaten them." Read the whole story. Mrs. McC: The irresponsibility & corruption of the Trump administration is so deep and broad, it boggles the mind. See Akhilleus's comment below.

Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "Rudolph W. Giuliani ... said Sunday that he has counseled the president against granting a pardon to his longtime fixer Michael Cohen, at least for now. 'I have advised the president, which he understands: no discussion of pardons,' Giuliani said in an appearance on ABC News's 'This Week.' But he seemed not to rule out that the president might change his mind. 'You can't abridge your power to do it. That's something you can decide down the road, one way or the other,' Giuliani said."

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: In Austin, Texas, a 41-year-old white man murdered a young black man in cold blood in the early morning hours of the 4th of July because the young man, Devonte Ortiz, was setting off fireworks. The white guy "was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree murder, police said. He is being held at the Travis County Jail on a $250,000 bond...."

*****

Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "President Trump on Saturday floated the idea of Twitter dumping major national news publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post as the social media platform removes 'fake' accounts. 'Twitter is getting rid of fake accounts at a record pace. Will that include the Failing New York Times and propaganda machine for Amazon, the Washington Post, who constantly quote anonymous sources that, in my opinion, don't exist - They will both be out of business in 7 years!' Trump tweeted." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Sadly, Twitter will never dump Trump, at least while he's president*, despite all the untruthful & incendiary remarks he makes on the platform. The company has given him a "world leader" exemption from the rules that apply to the rest of us.

That Went Well. Gardiner Harris & Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "North Korea accused the Trump administration on Saturday of pushing a 'unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization' and called it 'deeply regrettable,' hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his two days of talks in the North Korean capital were 'productive.' Despite the criticism, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, still wanted to build on the 'friendly relationship and trust' forged with President Trump during their summit meeting in Singapore on June 12. The ministry said Mr. Kim had written a personal letter to Mr. Trump, reiterating that trust." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Idrees Ali of Reuters: "A joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea scrapped after ... Donald Trump griped about 'tremendously expensive' military drills would have cost around $14 million, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday.... The $14 million price tag compares with a recent contract awarded to Boeing Co ... for nearly $24 million for two refrigerators to store food aboard Air Force One, the presidential plane. The contract has since been canceled due to possible delivery of an updated Air Force One aircraft.... U.S. officials have long insisted military exercises with partners are important for readiness and reassuring allies. Trump's announcement baffled allies, military officials and lawmakers from his own Republican Party."

MEANWHILE. "A Pathetic Weakling." Dexter Filkins of the New Yorker: "A humanitarian disaster is unfolding in southern Syria, where hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing heavy fighting and finding borders locked tight.... During the 2016 Presidential campaign, Donald Trump criticized [President] Obama's [hands-off] Syria policy, but since becoming President he has more or less continued it.... When the [Assad] offensive [on Dara'a] began, two weeks ago, Russian officials, unleashing waves of air strikes, said they had decided to help the Syrian army crush 'terrorists.' There was no mention of the 'de-escalation zone' that Trump and Putin had agreed to a year ago.... The 'de-escalation zone' was inaction disguised as action;... President Trump ... has made it absolutely clear that he intends to stay out of Syria, even at the price of allowing Putin to make him look like a pathetic weakling."

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration took another major swipe at the Affordable Care Act, halting billions of dollars in annual payments required under the law to even out the cost to insurers whose customers need expensive medical services. In a rare Saturday afternoon announcement, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it will stop collecting and paying out money under the ACA's 'risk adjustment' program, drawing swift protest from the health insurance industry. Risk adjustment is one of three methods built into the 2010 health-care law to help insulate insurance companies from the ACA requirement that they accept all customers for the first time -- healthy and sick --; without charging more to those who need substantial care. The other two methods were temporary, but risk adjustment is permanent.... The five-paragraph statement plus a timeline issued on Saturday justified the latest maneuver by tying it to a legal dispute over the fairness of the risk-adjustment formula." ...

... Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Trump administration officials said they decided to suspend payments under the program because of a ruling in February in Federal District Court in New Mexico. The judge tossed out the formula used to calculate payments, finding that it was flawed.... Supporters of the Affordable Care Act said the move was the latest example of the Trump White House's efforts to undermine the health law.... The Trump administration blamed President Barack Obama on Saturday, saying, 'This aspect of the risk adjustment methodology was promulgated as part of a regulation first issued by the Obama administration in 2013.'" Emphasis added.

The administration stole these babies and children, then destroyed the records needed to return them. When they miss the deadline, the court should hold Secretaries Nielsen and Azar in contempt. Jail them until their agencies prove that every last child has been returned. https://t.co/VllBrCYmQ4

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) July 6, 2018

Adolfo Flores of BuzzFeed: "... a court hearing Friday in San Diego made evident the extent of the breakdown between the Department of Homeland Security, which separated the children from their parents under the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), whose Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) houses the children at dozens of sites around the country. At the hearing, Justice Department attorneys acknowledged that the government is uncertain it knows the whereabouts of all the parents of 101 children under the age of five who the government has been ordered to reunite with their parents by Tuesday." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's just bear in mind that these are Trump's idea of "the best people" -- Jeff Sessions, Kirstjen Nielsen, Alex Azar -- yet it never occurred to them to get their staffs together to set up something as fundamental as a tracking system to locate their own prisoners. They don't even know who the children are if the kids are too young to reliably ID themselves. Either they're too cruel to care (most likely) or their incomprehensibly inept. Or a combination thereof. ...

... The United States of America v. Johan. Hey, at Least This Infant Got a Lawyer! Astrid Galvan of the AP: "The 1-year-old boy in a green button-up shirt drank milk from a bottle, played with a small purple ball that lit up when it hit the ground and occasionally asked for 'agua.' Then it was the child's turn for his court appearance before a Phoenix immigration judge, who could hardly contain his unease with the situation during the portion of the hearing where he asks immigrant defendants whether they understand the proceedings. 'I'm embarrassed to ask it, because I don't know who you would explain it to, unless you think that a 1-year-old could learn immigration law,' Judge John W. Richardson told the lawyer representing the 1-year-old boy." The baby's attorney "said the father, who was now in Honduras, was removed from the country under false pretenses that he would be able to leave with his son." ...

... Washington Post Editors: The Trump administration is practicing "Third World-style government dysfunction that combines the original sin of an unspeakably cruel policy with the follow-on ineptitude of uncoordinated agencies unable to foresee the predictable consequences of their decisions -- in this case, the inevitability that children and parents, once sundered, would need at some point to be reconnected. Now, faced with the deadline for reuniting parents and children set June 26 by Judge Dana Sabraw of U.S. District Court in San Diego, hundreds of government employees were set to work through the weekend poring over records to fix what the Trump administration broke by its sudden and heedless proclamation in May of 'zero tolerance' for undocumented immigrants, and the family separations that immediately followed. [HHS Secretary Alex] Azar, following the White House's lead, insisted any 'confusion' was the fault of the courts and a 'broken immigration system.' In fact, the confusion was entirely of the administration's own making." ...

... Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "A growing number of foreign-born recruits who joined the United States military through a special program created to recruit immigrant troops with valuable language and medical skills are being terminated before they can qualify for citizenship. Lawyers for the recruits say at least 30 have been discharged in recent weeks and thousands more are stuck in limbo -- currently enlisted but unable to serve -- and may also be forced out. They are being cut even as the Army has been unable to meet its 2018 recruiting goals.... 'There's no explanation for this except xenophobia,' said Margaret D. Stock, a retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and immigration lawyer who helped create the program.... The layers of clearance have grown so complex that a backlog of several thousand cases has piled up. A Defense Department official testified in a recent deposition that it would take 10 years to clear those currently waiting to serve." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Matt Zapotosky & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein "seems to be getting used to the constant controversy and criticism that comes from overseeing [Robert] Mueller. Rather than walking on eggshells, he's starting to fight back.... Those who know him say Rosenstein is playing the long game. He doesn't put too much stock in any single daily development, they say, but is mindful about what his place in history will be." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) in a Washington Post op-ed: "Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is under assault, and that is wrong.... As a party, we [Republicans] can't let the president or his allies erode the independence of the Justice Department or public trust in the vital work of law enforcement.... When Trump talks about firing the special counsel or his power to pardon himself, he makes it seem as though he has something to hide.... The special counsel's investigation is not about Trump. It is about our national security.... Congress must never abandon its role as an equal branch of government. In this moment, that means protecting Mueller's investigation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Eric Tucker & Chad Day of the AP: "Lawyers for ... Donald Trump unleashed a blistering attack on former FBI Director James Comey in a confidential memo last year to the special counsel, casting him as 'Machiavellian,' dishonest and 'unbounded by law and regulation' as they sought to undermine the credibility of a law enforcement leader they see as a critical witness against the president. The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, provides a window into the formation of a legal strategy currently used by Trump's lawyers as they seek to pit the president's word against that of the former FBI director. Comey's firing in May 2017 helped set in motion the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, and one-on-one conversations with Trump that Comey documented in a series of memos helped form the basis of Mueller's inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... AP: Here are the texts "of two letters written by lawyers for ... Donald Trump regarding former FBI Director James Comey. One was sent to special counsel Robert Mueller, and the other was sent to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein."

Victoria Guida & Katy O'Donnell of Politico: "CFPB Deputy Director Leandra English will drop her months-long legal challenge to Mick Mulvaney for the leadership of the embattled agency, saying on Friday that she will leave the consumer watchdog early next week. In a statement, English said she was stepping down in light of ... Donald Trump's nomination of a permanent director, Kathy Kraninger, to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."

Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell ... told President Trump this past week that Judges Raymond M. Kethledge and Thomas M. Hardiman presented the fewest obvious obstacles to being confirmed to replace Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court, according to Republican officials briefed on the conversation. While careful not to directly make the case for any would-be justice, Mr. McConnell made clear in multiple phone calls with Mr. Trump and the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, that the lengthy paper trail of another top contender, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, would pose difficulties for his confirmation." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Apparently his decision to deprive President Obama the right to appoint a Supreme Court justice has emboldened Mitch to the point that he now thinks he can name the justice he prefers. Maybe we're going to find out that the Trump presidency is a massive charade & Mitch has been running the country all along. ...

... Darcy Costello of the Louisville Courier Journal: "A group of protesters confronted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ... in Louisville Saturday, calling out 'Abolish ICE.'... McConnell was out to lunch with Kentucky's outgoing House Majority Floor Leader Jonathan Shell, who was upset in his May primary. Shell ... call[ed] the protesters 'a small group of extremists.'... In [a video], someone asks McConnell, 'Where are the children? Where are the babies, Mitch?'... 'What are you doing to get the babies back?' someone asks in the clip. McConnell ... isn't shown reacting or responding to the protesters.... Before [McConnell] gets into the car, someone can be heard saying, 'We know where you live.' Shell called the remark a 'not-so-subtle threat right out of the Maxine Waters playbook,' adding that it was 'very distasteful.'" Mrs. McC: Whereas kidnapping babies is not "very distasteful," I guess. Includes video.

Elise Viebeck & Alice Crites of the Washington Post: "A seventh former Ohio State University wrestler said Saturday that he believes Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) knew about inappropriate behavior that allegedly took place in the school's athletic department three decades ago, as two more former team members came to Jordan's defense. David Range, who wrestled for Ohio State in the late 1980s, said Jordan had to have known about alleged sexual misconduct by Richard Strauss, an athletic doctor whose behavior is under investigation by the school, because it happened regularly to team members and people talked about it. Jordan has denied he knew, saw or heard about any inappropriate behavior while he was an assistant wrestling coach from 1987 to 1995. 'Jordan definitely knew that these things were happening -- yes, most definitely,' Range told The Washington Post. 'It was there. He knew about it because it was an everyday occurrence.'... He said Jordan was present during group conversations in the locker room about Strauss's behavior." ...

... Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "House Republicans are refusing to publicly defend Tea Party firebrand Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) as more details come to light about the congressman's role in the Ohio State University sexual assault scandal." ...

... Sarah Westwood, et al., of CNN: "Rep. Mark Meadows, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, called on members to support Jordan, an Ohio Republican who's one of the founders of the conservative voting bloc.... CNN reached out to the offices of conservative members -- including those in the Freedom Caucus -- on Friday and received only a few responses.... In the wider House Republican conference..., some say Jordan has few allies willing to defend him against the scandal. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, has said he supports a full investigation of the allegations, and Jordan's office has confirmed he will cooperate with investigators. 'He's made a lot of enemies over the years. The knives are going to be out for Jim Jordan after these allegations,"'said a senior GOP congressional aide. "He has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way through his tactics with the Freedom Caucus. So don't expect a lot of goodwill towards him in this situation."

Congressional Race. Dan Merica of CNN: "A Republican congressional candidate in a Kansas race Democrats are targeting in November told an audience at a party meeting this month that 'outside of Western civilization there is only barbarism.' The comments from State Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, a candidate seeking the Republican nomination in the race to replace retiring Rep. Lynn Jenkins, came at a July 2 meeting of the Leavenworth County Republican Party. During his more-than-30-minute speech, Fitzgerald lamented the fact that people believe 'Western civilization is the problem,' argued that Christendom is 'under attack' and doubled down on his previous statement that Planned Parenthood is worse than a Nazi concentration camp." Mrs. McC: Oh, we know who the "real barbarian" is here.

Danielle Ohl of the (Annapolis, Maryland) Capital Gazette: "Janel Cooley, a survivor of the shooting that killed [Wendi] Winters and four others, said she watched from under her desk as [Winters, a] 20-year newspaper veteran, rose to meet her attacker. Winters charged forward holding a trash can and recycling bin, said Cooley, a sales consultant. Winters shouted something like, 'No! You stop that!' or 'You get out of here!'... Winters' colleagues agree she saved their lives. Of the 11 employees in the office during the attack, six survived."

Good Enough for Trump; Not for Northrup. A.C. Thompson & Ali Winston of ProPublica: "Defense contractor Northrop Grumman said it will investigate an employee identified as a member of a violent white supremacist group in a recent report by ProPublica and Frontline. The employee, Michael Miselis, a 29-year-old aerospace engineer, works at the company's facility in Redondo Beach, California, and holds a government-issued security clearance.... Outside of his professional life, Miselis belongs to the Rise Above Movement, a racist Southern California group whose members have physically attacked their political foes in at least four different cities.... ProPublica and Frontline were able to establish Miselis' membership in RAM and verify his role at the center of melees last year in Charlottesville, Virginia, and an earlier pro-Trump event in Berkeley, California.... Update...: One day after [the report] exposed ... Miselis..., company spokesman Tim Paynter told ProPublica and Frontline that Miselis 'is no longer an employee of Northrop Grumman.' Paynter did not say whether Miselis was fired or resigned from his position."

Beyond the Beltway

Toothless in Lexington. Deborah Yetter of the Lexington Courier Journal: "Two advocacy groups on Thursday called on the administration of Gov. Matt Bevin to ensure children and pregnant women are not affected by the state's abrupt decision to cut dental and vision benefits to nearly a half-million Kentuckians. The Kentucky Oral Health Coalition said in a statement it has received about a half-dozen reports directly from dentists that the cuts were resulting in 'denial of routine dental care of eligible children and pregnant women.' 'Though these populations were supposed to be protected from coverage changes, errors have meant that children who show up for a dental visit have been turned away with unmet dental needs unnecessarily,' the statement said."

Way Beyond

Carole Cadwalladr of the Guardian: "Brexit's biggest funder, Arron Banks, met the Russian ambassador at least 11 times in the run-up to the EU referendum and in the two months beyond, documents seen by the Observer suggest -- seven more times than he has admitted. The same documents suggest the Russian embassy extended a further four invitations but it is not known if they were accepted. It is the third time the number of such meetings has been revised upwards. For two years, Banks insisted his only contacts with the Russian government consisted of one 'boozy lunch' with the ambassador. After the Observer revealed a month ago that he had had multiple meetings at which he had been offered lucrative business deals, Banks told a parliamentary inquiry into fake news he had had 'two or three' meetings. Last week, when pressed by the New York Times, he admitted a fourth meeting."

News Ledes

Weather Channel: "Data from a hurricane hunter flight investigating Chris early Sunday found sustained winds had increased to tropical storm strength (40+ mph), allowing this system to be upgraded from Tropical Depression Three to Tropical Storm Chris. Additional intensification is likely over the next few days, and Chris could become a hurricane as early as Monday. Chris will remain stalled off the Carolina coastline the next few days. High surf and dangerous rip currents are expected along parts of the Carolina and mid-Atlantic coasts through early week."

Reuters: "The death toll from torrential rain and landslides in western Japan rose to 81 people on Sunday, with dozens still missing after more than 2,000, temporarily stranded in the city of Kurashiki, were rescued. Evacuation orders were in place for nearly 2 million people and landslide warnings were issued in many prefectures. In hard-hit western Japan, emergency services and military personnel used helicopters and boats to rescue people from swollen rivers and buildings, including a hospital."

New York Times: "After a temperate early summer and a balmy Fourth of July, Southern California residents abruptly found themselves in a caldron of triple-digit temperatures and wildfires this weekend. Firefighters across the region battled several blazes through the night Friday into Saturday, as an unseasonable heat wave set records in some places and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes in Los Angeles." ...

... The Los Angeles Times currently has links on its front page to a number of stories about specific fires.

Guardian: Operations are underway to save Thai soccer players and their coach trapped in an underwater cave. The Guardian is liveblogging developments.... Four of the boys have been rescued from the Tham Luang caves in Chiang Rai province, with nine people still trapped underground. All four boys safely reached a hospital in Chiang Rai, the nearest major city. The operation is scheduled to resume at around 8am local time (0200 BST) with officials and volunteers buoyed by the success of their chosen method. ...

... New York Times updates are here.

The Commentariat -- July 7, 2018

Afternoon Update:

That Went Well. Gardiner Harris & Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "North Korea accused the Trump administration on Saturday of pushing a 'unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization' and called it 'deeply regrettable,' hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his two days of talks in the North Korean capital were 'productive.' Despite the criticism, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, still wanted to build on the 'friendly relationship and trust' forged with President Trump during their summit meeting in Singapore on June 12. The ministry said Mr. Kim had writte a personal letter to Mr. Trump, reiterating that trust."

Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "A growing number of foreign-born recruits who joined the United States military through a special program created to recruit immigrant troops with valuable language and medical skills are being terminated before they can qualify for citizenship. Lawyers for the recruits say at least 30 have been discharged in recent weeks and thousands more are stuck in limbo -- currently enlisted but unable to serve -- and may also be forced out. They are being cut even as the Army has been unable to meet its 2018 recruiting goals.... 'There's no explanation for this except xenophobia,' said Margaret D Stock, a retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and immigration lawyer who helped create the program.... The layers of clearance have grown so complex that a backlog of several thousand cases has piled up. A Defense Department official testified in a recent deposition that it would take 10 years to clear those currently waiting to serve."

Matt Zapotosky & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein "seems to be getting used to the constant controversy and criticism that comes from overseeing [Robert] Mueller. Rather than walking on eggshells, he's starting to fight back.... Those who know him say Rosenstein is playing the long game. He doesn't put too much stock in any single daily development, they say, but is mindful about what his place in history will be." ...

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) in a Washington Post op-ed: "Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is under assault, and that is wrong.... As a party, we [Republicans] can't let the president or his allies erode the independence of the Justice Department or public trust in the vital work of law enforcement.... When Trump talks about firing the special counsel or his power to pardon himself, he makes it seem as though he has something to hide.... The special counsel's investigation is not about Trump. It is about our national security.... Congress must never abandon its role as an equal branch of government. In this moment, that means protecting Mueller's investigation."

... Eric Tucker & Chad Day of the AP: "Lawyers for ... Donald Trump unleashed a blistering attack on former FBI Director James Comey in a confidential memo last year to the special counsel, casting him as 'Machiavellian,' dishonest and 'unbounded by law and regulation' as they sought to undermine the credibility of a law enforcement leader they see as a critical witness against the president. The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, provides a window into the formation of a legal strategy currently used by Trump's lawyers as they seek to pit the president's word against that of the former FBI director. Comey's firing in May 2017 helped set in motion the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, and one-on-one conversations with Trump that Comey documented in a series of memos helped form the basis of Mueller's inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice."

*****

Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump's lawyers set new conditions on Friday on an interview with the special counsel and said that the chances that the president would be voluntarily questioned were growing increasingly unlikely. The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, needs to prove before Mr. Trump would agree to an interview that he has evidence that Mr. Trump committed a crime and that his testimony is essential to completing the investigation, said Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president's lead lawyer in the case. His declaration was the latest sign that the president's lawyers, who long cooperated quietly with the inquiry even as their client attacked it, have shifted to an openly combative stance. Mr. Giuliani acknowledged that Mr. Mueller was unlikely to agree to the interview demands." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Why is it I doubt Bob Mueller is falling for this moving-goal-posts feint?

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Prosecutors for special counsel Robert Mueller intend to present evidence at the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort that a banking executive allegedly helped Manafort obtain loans of approximately $16 million while the banker sought a role in the Trump campaign.... Until now, there had been no indication that his role in the Trump campaign would become part of the trial, and he had asked the judge to keep details about his ties to ... Donald Trump out of the trial. Prosecutors say any alleged collusion with the Russian government won't come up at the trial. The allegation of a possible quid pro quo came amid several court filings Friday.... The bank executive 'expressed interest in working on the Trump campaign, told (Manafort) about his interest, and eventually secured a position advising the Trump campaign,' the filing said. The unnamed man 'expressed an interest in serving in the administration of President Trump, but did not secure such a position.'" ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Lawyers for ... Paul Manafort have asked that his trial on bank and tax fraud charges set to open later this month in Alexandria, Virginia, be moved to Roanoke and put off until after another trial Manafort faces later this year in Washington.... 'Nowhere in the country is the bias against Mr. Manafort more apparent than here in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area,' defense lawyers wrote.... In a filing Friday evening, Manafort's lawyers ... complained that their client's jailing at such a distance from Washington has impaired their ability to prepare for a trial that is less than three weeks away." ...

... Adam Raymond of New York: "Paul Manafort is being kept in solitary confinement in a Virginia jail in order to 'guarantee his safety,' his lawyer said in court documents filed this week. 'He is locked in his cell for at least 23 hours per day (excluding visits from his attorneys),' defense attorney Kevin Downing wrote. In a brief filed Thursday, Downing wrote that Manafort is unable to adequately prepare for his two upcoming trails, the first of which starts later this month, while locked up.... [Robert] Mueller's team ... wrote that Manafort does not deserve special treatment since the limitations he's facing 'are common to defendants incarcerated pending trial.'"

Andrew Prokop of Vox: "The sprawling saga of Michael Cohen's hush money payoffs has taken another bizarre turn. Shera Bechard, a former Playboy model who Cohen had arranged a payoff for in exchange for her silence about a sex scandal last year, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday. Though Bechard's complaint is currently sealed, the Wall Street Journal's Michael Rothfeld and Joe Palazzolo report she is suing three people for alleged breach of contract. First there's Elliott Broidy, the wealthy Trump donor who had made the payments to Bechard. Second is Keith Davidson, the former lawyer for Bechard (and Stormy Daniels, and Karen McDougal) who had negotiated that and other hush money deals with Cohen. Third is Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels's new lawyer, who is trying to get Daniels's nondisclosure agreement struck down.... All of this would merely be a strange and tawdry side story in the many scandals of Michael Cohen -- if not for rampant speculation among liberals that it may have been Donald Trump, and not Elliott Broidy, who had the affair with Bechard."

Marty Graham of Reuters: "The U.S. government must provide a list by Saturday evening of the estimated 100 children under the age of 5 who were separated from their parents when entering the United States, a federal judge ordered on Friday. U.S. Judge Dana Sabraw also ordered the government to explain by Saturday its expectation for reuniting each of those children with their parents by the end of Tuesday. Sabraw last month issued the reunification order, which also set a July 26 deadline for more than 2,000 children to be reunited. The U.S. government attorneys said they may fail to meet those deadlines due to delays in confirming family relationships, but Sabraw declined to extend them without more information." ...

... Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration will not fully meet a federal judge's deadline to reunite all migrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, and instead is seeking more time in instances where officials are struggling to match children to parents, according to court records filed late Thursday. The government's request, hours before a scheduled hearing on the issue Friday, marks an abrupt departure from comments made earlier Thursday from President Trump's secretary for Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whose agency cares for the children in shelters. He had said the Trump administration 'will comply' with the deadlines, though he criticized the judge's timetable as 'extreme.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

** "... PBS NewsHour's Lisa Desjardins shares chilling first-hand accounts of family separations at the border." Mrs. McC: I stand corrected. Worse than criminal negligience. Depraved indifference, at best. We lock up people who do this to children. ...

... Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said Friday that Trump administration officials have told him and his staff that they view placing separated migrant children in foster care as an equivalent to reuniting them with their families. 'The secretary told us on a conference call they do not have an intention to reunify these children with their parents,' Inslee said on MSNBC's 'All in With Chris Hayes.'... 'They're going to call it good if they can find anybody else who can serve as a foster parent or anybody else who can serve as familial relationship, and these kids don't even know these strangers,' he continued." Inslee & five other Democratic governors -- Andrew Cuomo (New York), Dannel Malloy (Connecticut), Tom Wolf (Pennsylvania), Phil Murphy (New Jersey) and Kate Brown (Oregon) -- sent a letter to administration officials complaining about the inadequate effort to reunite families -- one that appears to "blatantly ignore the terms of [a] court order." ...

... "Whatever." Aura Bogado, et al., of Reveal News: "A major U.S. defense contractor quietly detaineddozens of immigrant children inside a vacant Phoenix office building with dark windows, no kitchen and only a few toilets during three weeks of the Trump administration's family separation effort, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting has learned.... The building is not licensed by Arizona to hold children, and the contractor, MVM Inc., has claimed publicly that it does not operate 'shelters or any other type of housing' for children. Defending the administration's policy to separate families at the border in a May interview with NPR, White House chief of staff John Kelly promised: 'The children will be taken care of -- put into foster care or whatever.'... That 'whatever' for them was the vacant building tucked away in a midtown Phoenix neighborhood." ...

... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: on how the U.S. has treated detained immigrant children: "The children were kept in often horrific conditions -- one child was apparently unbathed for 85 days and infested with lice, while others were bound to chairs naked in cold cells -- as their parents were unceremoniously shipped away with no knowledge of where their children were or when, if ever, they would see them again. In some cases Trump administration cronies like Betsy Devos with conservative religious adoption businesses and organizations have been profiting by housing the stolen children. As the Trump administration, facing withering public condemnation and judicial demands, begins to comply with court orders to reunite the families, it's not clear at this point that they're capable of complying in many cases even if they wanted to. Worse, these horrors are not born of incompetence or even mere callous insouciance. They are an intentional act of political terror by our government, perpetrated against some of the most vulnerable and desperate people in the world for purely racist reasons." ...

... Andrew Desiderio of the Daily Beast: "Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) was denied entry on Friday into a government facility [in Homestead, Florida,] housing unaccompanied immigrant minors and children who had been separated from their parents at the southern border.... According to Curbelo's office, the congressman followed the proper protocols with the Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the facilities, prior to his scheduled tour." But at the last minute, after a more than two-week process, HHS said it was too busy to "give him a tour.... Around 1,000 children are being housed [in the Homestead facility].... 'If your operation is so sensitive and delicate that an elected leader walking through your facility and asking a few questions disrupts your work, then you have a bigger problem,' [Curbelo] said." ...

** Rob Cuthbert in a New York Times op-ed: "This month is the 70th anniversary of President Harry Truman's executive order to end discrimination in the military according to 'race, color, religion or national origin.'... Yet in recent weeks, President Trump has shown that the military can also be manipulated to serve a nativist agenda. The Department of Defense has unconscionably committed to assisting in the prosecution and interment of asylum seekers. And, over the past few months, Mr. Trump and the civilian leadership of the military have begun to demolish an honorable path to citizenship for immigrants in our armed services.... Congress must take the initiative to protect the thousands of immigrants who serve in our military from this xenophobic commander in chief."

** Annie Snider of Politico: "The Trump administration is suppressing an Environmental Protection Agency report that warns that most Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapor in the course of daily life to put them at risk of developing leukemia and other ailments, a current and a former agency official told Politico. The warnings are contained in a draft health assessment EPA scientists completed just before Donald Trump became president, according to the officials. They said top advisers to departing Administrator Scott Pruitt are delaying its release as part of a campaign to undermine the agency's independent research into the health risks of toxic chemicals. Andrew Wheeler, the No. 2 official at EPA who will be the agency's new acting chief as of Monday..., was staff director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2004, when his boss, then-Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), sought to delay an earlier iteration of the formaldehyde assessment.... As long ago as January, Pruitt told a Senate panel that he believed the draft assessment was complete. Five months later, it has yet to see the light of day." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Peter Walker of the Guardian: "Donald Trump will almost entirely avoid London during his four-day visit to the UK next week, Downing Street has said, unveiling an itinerary that is likely to prompt accusations he is trying to avoid planned protests against him.... Trump, who is to meet Theresa May and the Queen among others before spending two days in Scotland, will only spend the night in London on Thursday, the day of his arrival, staying at the US ambassador's official residence in Regent's Park, Winfield House. Before that he will attend a gala dinner at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, and the following day he will hold talks with the prime minister at her Chequers country retreat in Buckinghamshire. Both are places where protesters can be kept out of sight and earshot. Later on the Friday he will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle before heading to Scotland for the weekend." Mrs. McC: Sure hope he gets to see Blimpy Baby Trump (story linked yesterday). (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Arris Folley of the Hill: "CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin on Friday slammed President Trump for his attacks on Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), calling them 'racist.' During a rally in Montana on Thursday night, Trump called Waters a 'low-IQ individual,' which is a description the president has used many times in reference to the congresswoman. The president also speculated Waters's IQ was 'somewhere in the mid-60s,' though the average IQ is 85-114. 'How about this Maxine Waters stuff over and over again?' Toobin said in reference to Trump's remarks on CNN. '"Low IQ." How racist is that? ... How many black people does the president have to attack in these terms?...' Toobin continued."

Chris Cillizza notes some of the men Donald Trump believes over their accusers: Jim Jordan, Roy Moore, Rob Porter, Rogers Ailes & Bill O'Reilly. (Al Franken, not so much.) "It doesn't take a genius to diagnose a severe case of situational ethics in Trump." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

She'll Fit Right in. Caleb Ecarma of Mediaite: "The wife of Bill Shine -- former Fox News co-president who just joined the Trump administration as White House communications chief -- has a lengthy history of defending racists, promoting unfounded anti-vaccination conspiracies, writing about 'Islamic Insanity,' and making racially-charged remarks on her social media pages. Darla Shine made these remarks primarily on her Twitter account, @darlashine, which was deleted as soon as the White House announced that her husband was officially joining the Trump administration." Ecarma cites numerous disgusting examples of Darla's "thoughts."

Scotty's Last Hurrah (Will Kill Us). Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "In the final hours of Scott Pruitt's tenure as administrator, the Environmental Protection Agency moved on Friday to effectively grant a loophole that will allow a major increase in the manufacturing of a diesel freight truck that produces as much as 55 times the air pollution as trucks that have modern emissions controls. The move by the E.P.A. came after intense lobbying by a small set of manufacturers that sell glider trucks, which use old engines built before new technologies significantly reduced emissions of particulates and nitrogen oxide that are blamed for asthma, lung cancer and other ailments." Mrs. McCrabbie: There is absolutely no excuse for this. None.

Rachel Bade & John Bresnahan of Politico: "A half-dozen ex-wrestlers told Politico they were regularly harassed in their training facility by sexually aggressive men who attended the university or worked there. The voyeurs would masturbate while watching the wrestlers shower or sit in the sauna, or engage in sexual acts in the areas where the athletes trained, the former wrestlers said.... Though none of the wrestlers and coaches interviewed blamed [Rep. Jim] Jordan for the inappropriate behavior they experienced..., they said he would have had to know about it. One former wrestler told Politico he saw Jordan yell at male voyeurs to get out of the sauna, though Jordan's office refuted this account.... Multiple former wrestlers have accused Jordan ... of being among the faculty members who turned a blind eye to inappropriate behavior by the late Richard Strauss, the university's former athletic doctor." ...

... Accusations Against Jordan Are Rosenstein's Fault. Catie Edmundson of the New York Times: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Vicious) "was defiant Friday night on Fox News.... He disparaged some of the former college wrestlers who have come forward to say he knew of allegations that the team doctor, Richard H. Strauss, had fondled them. He said he could not explain why other more friendly wrestlers had leveled similar charges.president.... Mr. Jordan continued to fan conspiracy theories connecting the emergence of the charges to his aggressive questioning last month of Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, the man many Trump supporters hold responsible for the Russia investigation. 'I think the timing is suspect when you think about how this whole story came together after the Rosenstein hearing and the speaker's race,' he said.... Some of his backers have suggested that Mr. Jordan's accusers are also part of a 'deep state' conspiracy to derail his political future.... His supporters have tried to amass evidence of that conspiracy. One of the leading talking points, which Mr. Jordan referenced on Friday night, is the choice of the investigative law firm retained by Ohio State in the Strauss matter. The firm, Perkins Coie, worked for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee, and helped to pay for a dossier of unconfirmed accusations linking the Trump campaign to Russian intelligence." ...

     ... Dear Mr. Rosenstein: Congratulations! You have replaced President Obama as The Source of All Evil. I'm sure it's not because you're Jewish. Is that Rosen-STINE or Rosen-STEEN? -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... William Saletan of Slate outlines the rules for evaluating malfeasance -- with ample examples -- that Jim Jordan applies to officials he is attacking. "1. You're responsible for what happens on your watch.... 2. You're responsible for monitoring the people around you.... 3. It's immoral to remain silent about the truth of an accusation.... 4. Any incomplete disclosure is malicious and corrupt.... 5. Any delay in disclosure is deliberate concealment.... 6. The penalty for these offenses should be prosecution or termination.... In every way, Jordan's conduct [re: the wresting scandal] violates the standards he applies to Comey, Mueller, Rosenstein, and Sessions. He ducked responsibility for offenses that occurred when he was, in effect, the deputy director of the OSU wrestling program. He claims to have known nothing about Strauss' locker-room behavior, even though Strauss' locker was next to his. And for months, despite explicit reports from Strauss' victims, Jordan has kept silent, asking them not to involve him in the story.... [Jordan] insists that such a person should be prosecuted, charged, or forced from office. That is the justice he must now face."

Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed: "The US Attorney's Office in Washington, DC, announced Friday that it is dismissing charges against the remaining defendants charged in connection with anti-Trump demonstrations on Inauguration Day. The dismissals conclude more than a year and a half of litigation over prosecutions that the defendants, their lawyers, and free speech advocates said represented overreach by the government, warning that they would chill First Amendment-protected activity going forward under the Trump administration. Police charged 234 people after making mass arrests in downtown Washington on Jan. 20, 2017. Twenty-one people pleaded guilty -- one person was sentenced to jail time after pleading guilty to a felony charge. The final dismissal notice Friday came after several trials in which prosecutors were unable to secure any convictions -- defendants were either acquitted or jurors failed to reach a verdict." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: No doubt this is because the DOJ is too busy framing that nice Jim Jordan to devote any more time to picking on Trump protesters.

Congressional Races

Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "A Republican congressional candidate in a reliably blue California district managed to capture nearly a quarter of votes cast in the state's open primary last month -- just after the state Republican Party caught wind of his anti-Semitic comments and rescinded its automatic endorsement. The candidate, John Fitzgerald, urged people on his campaign website to pay attention to 'Jewish supremacism,' among other anti-Semitic views, which led party leaders to rescind their support in May, about two months after the official endorsement.... Mr. Fitzgerald received 23 percent of the vote to finish second in the 11th Congressional District's June primary, which is open to all candidates regardless of party and allows the top two finishers to qualify for the general election. He is running against Representative Mark DeSaulnier, a Democrat...."

Nathan McDermott of CNN: "A Democrat from Wisconsin running to replace House Speaker Paul Ryan in Congress was arrested and pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in 1998, in addition to eight other arrests, according to documents obtained by CNN. Two of Randy Bryce's arrests were more recent -- in 2011 and 2018 -- while protesting the policies of Ryan and Wisconsin's GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, but the majority of Bryce's arrests stem from a single incident of driving under the influence, including three times for driving with a suspended license.... Bryce is facing Janesville School Board member Cathy Myers in a Democratic primary on August 14."

Eric Levitz of New York: "... most Americans' wages aren't getting any better, at all. Over the past 12 months, piddling wage gains -- combined with modest inflation -- have left the vast majority of our nation's laborers with lower real hourly earnings than they had in May 2017.... A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) offers a ... straightforward -- and political -- explanation: American policymakers have chosen to design an economic system that leaves workers desperate and disempowered, for the sake of directing a higher share of economic growth to bosses and shareholders. The OECD ... report lays waste to the idea that the plight of the American worker can be chalked up to impersonal economic forces, instead of concrete political decisions.... The U.S. [has] a higher 'low-income rate' than any other developed nation besides Greece and Spain.... Not only do Americans get fired more than other workers; we also get less warning.... Our government does less for us when we're out of work than just about anyone else's.... Labor's share of income has been falling faster in the U.S. than almost anywhere else."

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. -- Declaration of Independence, one of the "repeated injuries and usurpations" committed by King George ...

... Facebook Sorry It Banned Declaration of Independence as Hate Speech. Rachel Sandler of Business Insider (July 5): "In yet another viral case of Facebook struggling to police hate speech on its platform, parts of the Declaration of Independence posted by a newspaper in Texas were taken down earlier this week after the social media giant flagged the excerpts as hate speech.... The Vindicator, a small community newspaper in Liberty County, Texas, started posting excerpts of the Declaration of Independence earlier this week leading up to the Fourth of July. While the newspaper was able to post the majority of the Declaration of Independence without any issue, one post contained the phrase 'Indian Savages,' which, out of context would appear to violate Facebook's community standards.... After The Vindicator's editors published a story about it ... and notified Facebook, the company restored the post and apologized."

The Commentariat -- July 6, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration will not fully meet a federal judge's deadline to reunite all migrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, and instead is seeking more time in instances where officials are struggling to match children to parents, according to court records filed late Thursday. The government's request, hours before a scheduled hearing on the issue Friday, marks an abrupt departure from comments made earlier Thursday from President Trump's secretary for Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whose agency cares for the children in shelters. He had said the Trump administration 'will comply' with the deadlines, though he criticized the judge's timetable as 'extreme.'"

** Annie Snider of Politico: "The Trump administration is suppressing an Environmental Protection Agency report that warns that most Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapor in the course of daily life to put them at risk of developing leukemia and other ailments, a current and a former agency official told Politico. The warnings are contained in a draft health assessment EPA scientists completed just before Donald Trump became president, according to the officials. They said top advisers to departing Administrator Scott Pruitt are delaying its release as part of a campaign to undermine the agency's independent research into the health risks of toxic chemicals. Andrew Wheeler, the No. 2 official at EPA who will be the agency's new acting chief ..., was staff director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2004, when his boss, then-Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), sought to delay an earlier iteration of the formaldehyde assessment.... As long ago as January, Pruitt told a Senate panel that he believed the draft assessment was complete. Five months later, it has yet to see the light of day."

Chris Cillizza notes some of the men Donald Trump believes over their accusers: Jim Jordan, Roy Moore, Rob Porter, Rogers Ailes & Bill O'Reilly. (Al Franken, not so much.) "It doesn't take a genius to diagnose a severe case of situational ethics in Trump."

Peter Walker of the Guardian: "Donald Trump will almost entirely avoid London during his four-day visit to the UK next week, Downing Street has said, unveiling an itinerary that is likely to prompt accusations he is trying to avoid planned protests against him.... Trump, who is to meet Theresa May and the Queen among others before spending two days in Scotland, will only spend the night in London on Thursday, the day of his arrival, staying at the US ambassador's official residence in Regent's Park, Winfield House. Before that he will attend a gala dinner at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, and the following day he will hold talks with the prime minister at her Chequers country retreat in Buckinghamshire. Both are places where protesters can be kept out of sight and earshot. Later on the Friday he will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle before heading to Scotland for the weekend." Mrs. McC: Hope he gets to see Blimpy Baby Trump (story linked below).

*****

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: "This, to say the least, is not normal." That's what Susan Glasser writes (linked below) about the administration's revolving spinning door. But "not normal" also is true of most news that comes out of the White House every day. Just look at today: we've begun a massive trade war with China initiated by presidential fiat without any consideration of the consequences for the greater economy (but not touching Trump's personal profits); a President making racist, sexist remarks against a sitting U.S. Senator; an administration so incompetent that it crosses the line into criminal negligence in its cruel treatment of children & their families (DNA tests to find out who's who!); a President who finally fires a scandal-plagued Cabinet member (via a surrogate who also is about to get canned), then lies about the circumstances of the firing; a President who hires a new scandal-plagued deputy who enabled a sexual abuser not unlike the President himself; a President who unequivocally supports (for now) a Congressman accused of covering up rampant sexual abuse & who dismisses out-of-hand widespread allegations against the MoC. We cannot become accustomed to this. It is "normal" now; but it is not normal over the course of the nation's history.

Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "A trade war between the world's two largest economies officially began on Friday morning as the Trump administration followed through with its threat to impose tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products, a significant escalation of a fight that could hurt companies and consumers in both the United States and China. The penalties, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m., prompted quick retaliation by Beijing. China said it immediately put its own similarly sized tariffs on an unspecified clutch of American goods. Previously, the Chinese government had said it would tax pork, soybeans and automobiles, among other goods. In a statement, China's Ministry of Commerce said the United States 'has launched the biggest trade war in economic history so far.'" Mrs. McC: The Minister's comment is very Trumpy. ...

     ... As Ye Sow... Paul Krugman: "... big business is reaping what it sowed. No single cause brought us to this terrible moment in American history, but decades of cynical politics on the part of corporate America certainly played an important role.... Partly I mean the tacit alliance between businesses and the wealthy, on one side, and racists on the other, that is the essence of the modern conservative movement.... Trump isn't just a protectionist, he's an authoritarian.... Trump is already in the habit of threatening businesses that have crossed him.... But organizations like the [C]hamber [of Commerce] and Heritage are still trying to ensure a Republican victory." ...

... Jonathan O'Connell & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "... the president's businesses continue to benefit from partnerships involving the Chinese government, via state-backed companies and investors. Chinese government-backed firms are slated to work on parts of two large developments -- in Dubai and Indonesia -- that will include Trump-branded properties. The Trumps are the landlord to one of China's top state-owned banks, which has occupied the 20th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan since 2008. The bank's lease is worth close to $2 million annually, according to industry estimates and a bank filing. And despite the Trump administration's focus on American manufacturing, assembly-line workers in China still produce blouses, shoes and handbags for the clothing line created by Trump's daughter Ivanka, a White House adviser. The tariffs that were set to kick in at 12:01 a.m. Friday are not expected to affect the Trumps' financial interests...."

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Trump lobbed personal and derogatory attacks at two Democratic senators, mocked the #MeToo movement and vouched for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday during a freewheeling, raucous rally ostensibly intended to solidify support for Montana's Republican Senate candidate. Taunting Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, with a refusal to apologize for calling her 'Pocahontas,' Mr. Trump imagined a debate during which he would gently throw an ancestry testing kit at Ms. Warren to make her prove the Native American heritage she has controversially claimed. 'We are going to do it gently because we're the #MeToo generation, so we have to be very careful,' the president said to scattered laughter, adding that he would donate $1 million to charity if Ms. Warren followed through. Mr. Trump, who has faced accusations of sexual assault and harassment, announced earlier in the day that Bill Shine, who was ousted from Fox News over his handling of the network's harassment scandals, would take a position on his administration's communications staff." Trump also criticized Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). Do read on. ...

While you obsess over my genes, your Admin is conducting DNA tests on little kids because you ripped them from their mamas & you are too incompetent to reunite them in time to meet a court order. Maybe you should focus on fixing the lives you're destroying. -- Elizabeth Warren, following Trump's remarks, in a tweet ...

... ** Caitlin Dickerson of the New York Times: "Faced with a court-imposed deadline to reunite families separated at the southwest border, federal authorities are calling in volunteers to sort through records and resorting to DNA tests to match children with parents. And they acknowledged for the first time Thursday that of the nearly 3,000 children who are still in federal custody, about 100 are under the age of 5. The family separations, part of an aggressive effort by the Trump administration to deter illegal immigration, have produced a chaotic scramble as officials now face political and judicial pressure to reunite families. Records linking children to their parents have disappeared, and in some cases have been destroyed, according to two officials of the Department of Homeland Security, leaving the authorities struggling to identify connections between family members." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions, DHS head Kirstjen Nielsen & HHS Secretary Alex Azar must answer for this. The administration's purposeful incompetence is nothing short of criminal negligence. Their cavalier ineptitude has deep consequences for their victims; now it must have consequences for the perps. ...

... MEANWHILE. David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club has applied for permission to hire 40 foreign workers to serve as waiters during the winter social season in Palm Beach, Fla., according to data posted Thursday by the Labor Department.... The application filed with the Labor Department signals that -- despite Trump's insistence that immigration is holding down wages and crowding out native-born American workers -- his club believes it cannot find any Americans willing and able to hold the waiter jobs." ...

... Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday that officials are racing against a federal judge's 'extreme' deadlines to reunite 'under 3,000' migrant children separated from their parents at the U.S. border. Azar did not provide a precise number, but he said hundreds of government employees are poring over databases, examining case files, and conducting DNA tests to reunite families. The children are being held in shelters overseen by HHS. Their parents are in Homeland Security's immigration jails.... International advocacy groups and Pope Francis had criticized the administration for traumatizing families.... Thursday, two House Oversight Committee leaders pressed key Trump Cabinet officials for a detailed accounting of the thousands of children separated from their parents since the administration began in May to prosecute every illegal border crossing. In a bipartisan letter, sent to Azar, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, lawmakers made 11 specific requests for information about every child -- including their age, gender and location."

Martha Mendoza & Garance Burke of the AP: "Some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged.... The AP was unable to quantify how many men and women who enlisted through the special recruitment program have been booted from the Army, but immigration attorneys say they know of more than 40 who have been discharged or whose status has become questionable, jeopardizing their futures.... Some of the service members say they were not told why they were being discharged. Others who pressed for answers said the Army informed them they'd been labeled as security risks because they have relatives abroad or because the Defense Department had not completed background checks on them."

** Adios, Scotty! Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Scott Pruitt, President Trump's administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, resigned after facing months of allegations over legal and ethical violations. Mr. Trump announced the resignation in a tweet on Thursday in which he thanked Mr. Pruitt for an 'outstanding job' and said the agency's deputy, Andrew Wheeler, would take over as the acting administrator on Monday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... The story has been updated; Lisa Friedman & Maggie Haberman now are also on the byline. Here's one update: "An individual close to Mr. Pruitt said the president acted after he found one particular story in recent days embarrassing: a report that Mr. Pruitt had asked Mr. Trump to fire Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, so that Mr. Pruitt could run the Justice Department. The idea had been discussed privately for months by the president, who occasionally asked advisers if it was a good idea.... But seeing those deliberations being aired publicly, amid a string of other damaging reports, focused Mr. Trump's attention, a person close to the president said. Fresh allegations that Mr. Pruitt had retroactively altered his public schedule, potentially committing a federal crime, had also escalated concerns about him at the White House, according to a White House aide. On Thursday afternoon, around 1:30, Mr. Trump's chief of staff, John F. Kelly, reached out to Mr. Pruitt to tell him the time had come." ...

     ... Margaret Hartmann reports in the post linked below, "Trump described a much different, more flattering, scene, telling reporters that the EPA chief 'came to me and said, "I have such great confidence in the administration. I don't want to be a distraction.'" ...

... The Limits of Sucking Up. Margaret Hartmann: Pruitt "survived months of increasingly outlandish misconduct allegations -- featuring props like a used Trump hotel mattress, fancy lotion, expensive fountain pens, and a $43,000 soundproof phone booth -- because Trump only cared that environmental regulations were being torn up, and Pruitt took an 'adoring tone' in their interactions, according to the Washington Post.... It can seem like [Trump is] bizarrely devoted to his top aides.... But if Trump decides someone is a liability, he'll drop them in an instant." ...

... The Consequences of Pissing Down. Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Though well-liked by Trump until recently, Pruitt routinely alienated many senior staff members and would-be allies. Their subsequent press leaks and congressional whistleblowing made Pruitt too much of a liability even for Trump.... [Pruitt's] routine mistreatment of his subordinates ... led them to speak out -- and may have sealed his fate.... The litany of former staffers with an ax to grind kept the Pruitt controversy in the headlines for months, eventually managing to exhaust President Trump's patience, White House sources say. Even Fox News ... had turned on Pruitt by the end." ...

... Pruitt Says He Quit Because People Were Mean to Him. Politico publishes Scotty's resignation letter: "You're great, Trump, blah blah, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us blah blah." Mrs. McC: So not his fault. I hope Kristen Mink -- that mom who approached him in the restaurant earlier this week -- was the last straw. She's my hero. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... God Ordained Trump & Pruitt, Sez Pruitt. Ed Kilgore: "Pruitt's resignation letter ... [ended] on a characteristic (to Evangelical ears) note: 'I believe you are serving as President today because of God's providence. I believe that same providence brought me into your service.' Considering that his issues would have probably forced him out much, much earlier under most, if not all, of the first 44 presidents, that sentiment is understandable.... His legendary tenure will likely earn him a spot in history alongside such ethical blackguards as Harding's Interior Secretary Albert Fall, who accepted bribes for no-bid federal oil leases in the Teapot Dome scandal, or Grant's War Secretary William Belknap, whose Pruitt-like taste for luxury was supported by kickbacks from military trading post concession-holders. What's missing so far in Pruitt's case is any acknowledgement from his Cabinet peers or the president that he's done anything wrong. And that may be the biggest Pruitt scandal of them all." ...

... Remembering Scotty. Eli Watkins & Clare Foran of CNN published an organized list of Scotty's Scandals in mid-April & have "updated with more developments." It's a really impressive list! ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: While the Congress might be able to end some or all of its inquiries into Pruitt, I don't see how any investigations -- by the IG or FBI or others -- that reasonably might lead to criminal charges can be shut down just because Scotty has slipped out of his tactical pants & cleaned the family photos out of his hermetically-sealed office. If a bank employee is under investigation for embezzlement, she doesn't get to keep the money just because she quit her job. It would be great if Trump decided to pardon Pruitt right before the November elections. ...

... Coral Davenport, et al., of the New York Times: "Before he resigned on Thursday, Scott Pruitt ... was facing new questions about whether aides deleted sensitive information about his meetings from his public schedule and potentially violated the law in doing so. Last summer one of his senior schedulers, Madeline G. Morris, was fired by Mr. Pruitt's former deputy chief of staff, Kevin Chmielewski, who said he let her go because she was questioning the practice of retroactively deleting meetings from the calendar. Mr. Chmielewski has emerged as a harsh critic of Mr. Pruitt after a bitter falling out that led to his departure from the agency as well." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Emily Atkin of the New Republic: "A considerable amount of reporting went into exposing all of [Pruitt's] scandals, as [Kristen] Mink [-- the mother who confronted Pruitt at a restaurant --] noted on Thursday. 'It's not like I can take all the credit for this,' the schoolteacher told DCist. 'The great majority goes to effective fact-based research of quality journalists who exposed the depth of Scott Pruitt's corruption.' But the celebration of journalists' dogged work in covering Pruitt, while deserved, shouldn't obscure how much daunting work remains in covering Trump's EPA.... [Pruitt] was at his most dangerous when he was systematically dismantling America's public health protections for the benefit of polluters. Andrew Wheeler, the EPA's deputy administrator and soon-to-be acting administrator, may be even more qualified for that mission given his previous work as a coal lobbyist for Murray Energy and an aide to climate-denying Senator James Inhofe. Whereas Pruitt was often hasty and sloppy in his attempts to repeal Obama-era environmental regulations..., Wheeler 'is viewed as a consummate Washington insider who avoids the limelight and has spent years effectively navigating the rules,' The New York Times reported Thursday." ...

... Pruitt without the Baggage. Steve Mufson of the Washington Post: Andrew "Wheeler spent a decade lobbying for just the sort of companies the agency regulates, and before that he worked for Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), who rejects climate change. Drawing on more than a quarter-century in Washington, Wheeler is expected to pick up where the departing Pruitt left off -- only without the controversy that constantly plagued him.... At the firm Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting, Wheeler represented energy companies, mining companies and a mixture of others.... Among his professional activities, he once listed his post as vice president of the Washington Coal Club.... Environmental groups vowed to fight him as much as they have the outgoing chief." ...

... Steve M.: "Fear of midterm attack ads was what finally brought this to a head. Morality and ethics certainly weren't getting the job done.... So Pruitt and Trump are on God's side [according to Pruitt in his resignation letter] ... and Pruitt's enemies are pure evil[.].... Has Pruitt done anything wrong? Pruitt's answer is no. Trump's answer is no -- nothing except possibly providing fodder for negative campaign commercials. The Republican commentariat's answer is an unasmbiguous no as well. We're the sole source of evil, as usual." ...

... Dan Spinelli of Mother Jones: "Republicans in Congress Sure Seem Happy Not to Have to Defend Scott Pruitt Anymore.... When Scott Pruitt's scandal-plagued tenure ... finally came to an end Thursday, his many critics in and out of Congress wasted no time rejoicing at another Trump Cabinet member exiting under a cloud.... For Republicans annoyed at Pruitt's laundry list of scandals but eager to continue his legacy of undoing Obama-era environmental regulations, Andrew Wheeler is more than acceptable." Spinelli publishes some Congressional comments on Pruitt/Wheeler. ...

... Paul Farhi & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Former Fox News Channel executive Bill Shine is joining the White House as assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for communications, the White House announced Thursday.... With Thursday's announcement, Shine becomes the fifth communications chief since Trump took office nearly 18 months ago.... The appointment is also likely to open the White House up to attacks regarding Shine's record at Fox, as well as the Trump administration's response to sexual misconduct allegations against officials within its own ranks." Mrs. McC: Can someone who spent years enabling a sexual predator get a security clearance? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "Shine resigned last May from his post as co-president of Fox News amid allegations that he enabled the sexual harassment regime of his boss Roger Ailes. So it is shocking, although not at all surprising, that the Trump administration has hired him with the title of assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for communications. 'It's extraordinary that the president of the United States could hire someone like this,' a senior Fox News executive told BuzzFeed. 'This is someone who is highly knowledgeable of women being cycled through for horrible and degrading behavior by someone who was an absolute monster.'... Shine is also accused of hiring private investigators to harass journalists." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I suspect hiring Shine was the "real reason" Trump had Kelly fire Pruitt when he did. Trump claimed Pruitt resigned because he "didn't want to be a distraction." But Pruitt provided just the distraction Trump wanted yesterday -- one that would bury stories about Shine's history.

... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "Now that President Trump has accepted the resignation of ... Scott Pruitt, the fate of his embattled chief of staff [John Kelly] is the key drama of this drama-plagued Administration.... Barely a week has gone by without a new report about Trump shopping around for Kelly's replacement.... This Trump Unchained era is merely proof that no aide, not even a brusque Marine general with a chest full of medals, is going to bring order to a President determined to have his own way.... When we look back at the Trump Administration, this will be one of its most distinguishing characteristics: West Wing comings and goings without precedent, leaving policies muddled.... This, to say the least, is not normal. It might seem self-evident, but it bears repeating: Trump, whatever else he accomplishes, will certainly go down in the record books as the worst manager of the White House in modern times."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen ... has hired Lanny J. Davis, the Washington lawyer and public relations consultant best known for serving in the Clinton White House, to represent him."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors are urging a federal appeals court to reject former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's bid to be released on bail as he prepares for two criminal trials, including one set to begin later this month. In a filing Thursday, Mueller's team urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit not to disturb a lower court's order last month jailing Manafort over charges that he tampered with witnesses related to the cases against him."

Lachlan Markay & Dean Jones of The Daily Beast: "A mystery client has been paying bloggers in India and Indonesia to write articles distancing President Donald Trump from the legal travails of a mob-linked former business associate. Spokespeople for online reputation management companies in the two countries confirmed that they had been paid to write articles attempting to whitewash Trump's ties to Felix Sater, a Russian-born businessman who, with former Russian trade minister Tevfik Arif, collaborated with the Trump Organization on numerous real estate deals from New York to the former Soviet Union. The campaign appears designed to influence Google search results pertaining to Trump's relationship with Sater, Arif, and the Bayrock Group, a New York real estate firm that collaborated with Trump on a series of real estate deals, and recruited Russian investors for potential Trump deals in Moscow." --safari (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers who went to Russia seeking a thaw in relations received an icy reception from Democrats and Kremlin watchers for spending the Fourth of July in a country that interfered in the U.S. presidential election and continues to deny it.... Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) led the eight-member delegation on a multiday tour of St. Petersburg and Moscow.... The point of their visit, Shelby stressed to the Duma leader, was to 'strive for a better relationship' with Moscow, not 'accuse Russia of this or that or so forth.' It played well in Moscow, but not on the home front.... On Russian state television, presenters and guests mocked the U.S. congressional delegation for appearing to put a weak foot forward, noting how the message of tough talk they promised in Washington 'changed a bit' by the time they got to Moscow."

Jillian Jorgensen of the New York Daily News: "New York City has nixed a $48,000 tax break President Trump was set to receive on his Trump Tower condo following inquiries from the Daily News about whether he is still eligible for the savings.... a homeowner is only eligible for the tax break if the condo is his primary residence -- which the city's tax rules define as 'the dwelling unit in which the owner of the dwelling unit actually resides and maintains a permanent and continuous physical presence.'... After The News asked the city Department of Finance about the abatement, it was removed from Trump's tax records for the new tax year." Mrs. McC: Sounds like a homestead exemption; if Trump still votes in NYC, he probably should have been allowed to keep the exemption.

How Diplomatic. Justin McCurry of the Guardian: "When Mike Pompeo meets Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, he will reportedly attempt to smooth a path towards denuclearisation with a gift that playfully references a low point in relations between the North Korean leader and Donald Trump: a CD of Elton John's Rocket Man. The US secretary of state will present Kim with the CD along with a letter from Trump, who memorably turned the song's title into an epithet after the North stepped up its ballistic missile tests last year."

BBC News: "Plans to fly a giant inflatable figure depicting Donald Trump as a baby over London during the US president's visit have been approved. Mr Trump is due to meet Theresa May at 10 Downing Street on 13 July. Campaigners raised almost £18,000 for the helium-filled six-metre high figure, which they said reflects Mr Trump's character as an 'angry baby with a fragile ego and tiny hands'. London Mayor Sadiq Khan gave permission for the balloon to fly.... Mr Khan and Mr Trump have repeatedly clashed on Twitter, including in the aftermath of the London Bridge attack. Before the figure can take off, campaigners will also need permission from the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) as the project constitutes a 'non-standard flight in controlled airspace'.... Because Parliament Square sits within restricted airspace, additional approvals are also needed from the Metropolitan Police.... On Twitter former UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the plan was 'the biggest insult to a sitting US President ever'." Mrs. McC: That's the idea, Nigel.

** Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "At some point in the not-distant future, a majority of Americans will be of black, Hispanic, and Asian origin. But there's a difference between a nation's population and its electorate -- its share of people who can exercise the full rights and privileges of citizenship. Republicans realize this, and are trying -- at every level of government -- to reverse-engineer a white electorate large enough to secure their own power, and along with it, the existing hierarchy of class and race. Donald Trump is a major part of this story. But as with all things Trump, it would be wrong to treat this project as unique to him and his administration." --safari (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "A fourth former Ohio State University wrestler came forward Thursday to contradict Rep. Jim Jordan's claim that he had no idea the wrestling team doctor was molesting athletes. The wrestler, Shawn Dailey, said he was groped half a dozen times by Dr. Richard Strauss in the mid-1990s, when Jordan was the assistant wrestling coach. Dailey said he was too embarrassed to report the abuse directly to Jordan at the time, but he said Jordan took part in conversations where Strauss' abuse of many other team members came up.... Calling Jordan 'a close friend,' Dailey said he is a Republican and that he contributed to the powerful Ohio congressman's first political campaign for state representative in 1994.... Also Thursday, Mark Coleman, another former wrestler and a former UFC world champion, told The Wall Street Journal that Jordan was aware of the abuse and had not taken action.... 'I don't believe them at all,' Trump [told reporters on AF1 Thursday] of the allegations against Jordan. 'I believe him. Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I've met since I've been in Washington. I believe him 100 percent." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: "I believe the men" is President Pussy-Grabber's default position on all allegations of sexual abuse or predation. ...

... Jim Jordan Calls Cops on Sex Abuse Victims. Sunlen Serfaty & Clare Foran of CNN: "Rep. Jim Jordan's office will contact Capitol Hill police after receiving emails from an alleged victim of sexual abuse at Ohio State University when the Ohio Republican was an assistant wrestling coach, a source within the office told CNN Wednesday. The source added that the messages were vaguely threatening in nature in part because of the amount of emails sent, and that Jordan did not respond to the emails because he felt the man was 'bullying him.'" Mrs. McC: What does "law and order" mean to a Republican? Siccing the cops on victims of crimes in which he is implicated. Count this as one more indicator that the U.S. is sinking into a dangerous, authoritarian police state. Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. ...

Trump, Sessions Foiled Again. Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Thursday mostly rejected a bid by the Justice Department to block California's 'sanctuary state' laws, which enact policies friendly to undocumented immigrants. In a 60-page ruling, U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez said most of the laws, which limit how state businesses and law enforcement agencies can work with federal immigration authorities, are 'permissible exercises of California's sovereign power.'... California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) hailed the decision as 'a strong ruling against federal government overreach.' 'The Constitution gives the people of California, not the Trump administration, the power to decide how we will provide for our public safety and general welfare,' he said." Mrs. McC: Mendez is a Bush II appointee.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The Labor Department released its monthly hiring and unemployment figures on Friday morning.... 213,000 jobs were added last month. Economists had expected a gain of about 200,000.... The unemployment rate rose to 4 percent, from 3.8 percent.... Average hourly earnings rose by 0.2 percent after growing by 0.3 percent in May. The year-over-year gain is now 2.7 percent.... The latest jobs numbers cap a string of encouraging economic reports." ...

... Politico: "The White House, in a statement, described the numbers as the 'latest in a string of positive headlines showing that confidence in surging, growth is accelerating and jobs are plentiful in the Trump economy.'... But the tight labor market continued to produce bafflingly weak wage growth, with average hourly earnings up 2.7 percent over the previous year, unchanged from May."

The New York Times is updating developments in the effort to rescue 12 boys & their soccer coach in Thailand. "A former Thai Navy diver helping with the rescue operation has died, running out of air after bringing extra tanks in to the trapped team, Thai officials say."