| | | | Trump won't stop Comey from testifying | | From CNN's Dan Merica: President Donald Trump will not try to block fired FBI Director James Comey from testifying before Congress, opting not to invoke executive privilege, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said today at the White House briefing.
"The President's power to assert executive privilege is well-established. However, in order to facilitate a swift and thorough examination of the facts sought by the Senate Intelligence Committee, President Trump will not assert executive privilege regarding James Comey's scheduled testimony," said a statement issued by the White House.
This makes Thursday's Comey testimony must-see TV. Comey's testimony is expected to be explosive and will be closely watched throughout Washington, where the focus on Russia's involvement in the 2016 campaign, the country's connections to Trump associates and aides -- and an alleged attempt by Trump to use Comey to quash an investigation -- is growing stronger. | | "I mean, he is taking on a little bit of extra duty at this point." -- Deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders when asked why Sean Spicer wasn't briefing the press today. | | | Report: Russia attempted to hack voting software | | A major news break from The Intercept's Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Sam Biddle and Ryan Grim today. They report: "Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November's presidential election, according to a highly classified intelligence report obtained by The Intercept."
More: "The top-secret National Security Agency document, which was provided anonymously to The Intercept and independently authenticated, analyzes intelligence very recently acquired by the agency about a months-long Russian intelligence cyber effort against elements of the U.S. election and voting infrastructure. The report, dated May 5, 2017, is the most detailed U.S. government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to light."
A US official confirmed to CNN that The Intercept's document is a genuine, classified NSA document. CNN's Evan Perez, Jim Sciutto and Laura Jarrett have much more.
How'd The Intercept get that report? Related news: The Justice Department announced criminal charges against a federal contractor with top secret clearance. Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation in Georgia, is accused of "removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet," according to a federal complaint. Prosecutors say when confronted with the allegations, Winner admitted to intentionally leaking the classified document -- and she was arrested June 3 in Augusta, Georgia. An internal audit revealed Winner was one of six people who printed the document, but the only one who had email contact with the news outlet, according to the complaint. | | | White House counselor Kellyanne Conway's husband George Conway -- once a top contender for a key Justice Department job -- tweeted for the first time in two years today, and it was a doozy: | | | What George Conway was talking about: Trump's comments this morning, railing on his own Justice Department, using a phrase ("travel ban") his administration has cast as inaccurate and attacking another branch of government. Here they are: | | | ... But Trump apparently wasn't convinced. Here's what he tweeted tonight: | | This has nothing to do with politics: But we love this anyway. Cecilia Wessels took a remarkable photo of her husband, Theunis Wessels, pushing a mower Friday as a funnel cloud loomed over him in the background. "Yes, he did know (the volcano) was there," Cecilia Wessels told CNN. "He told me, 'I'm keeping an eye on it.'" With all the news lately, we felt like we could relate, Theunis.
Eric writes: "This was taken in Canada, but it would be the most Indiana thing I've ever seen." | | 2 things you might have missed today | | Trump has yet to formally nominate ambassador picks: President Donald Trump complained the Senate has not confirmed his ambassadors -- but he has yet to formally nominate some of them, including a wealthy donor he said in January he would send to the UK. The White House still has not sent a nomination for Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, over to the Senate, the chamber's Committee on Foreign Relations confirmed to CNN. More from CNN's Tal Kopan.
Senate Republicans cast doubt on comprehensive health care bill: Senate Republicans return to the daunting task this week of crafting a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act -- but both in private and in public, senators and their aides are expressing little sign of progress or reason for confidence that they can make good on their campaign promise. More from CNN's MJ Lee, Lauren Fox and Ted Barrett. | | | NATO officially welcomed Montenegro as its 29th member during a ceremony at the US State Department in Washington. ... A feud among Washington's closest Gulf allies could disrupt US efforts to fight ISIS and counter Iran in the Middle East over the long term, even as Trump administration officials insist the rift will have no immediate impact. ... President Donald Trump's decision to knock London Mayor Sadiq Khan didn't come out of nowhere. | | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out Five Things for Your New Day, CNN's morning newsletter. Give us five minutes, and we'll brief you on all the news and buzz people will be talking about. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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