| | | | That depends on what the meaning of 'weighed in' is | | White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders acknowledged Tuesday that President Donald Trump "weighed in" on Donald Trump Jr.'s statement to The New York Times about the son's meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016.
That statement seems to run directly counter to what Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said on CNN (and a variety of other outlets) last month; "I wasn't involved in the statement drafting at all, nor was the President," Sekulow told CNN's Chris Cuomo.
How to explain that discrepancy? Sanders didn't bother to try. She also didn't directly dispute the reporting done by the Washington Post in which sources claimed Trump had "dictated" the statement during his return flight on Air Force One from the G20 meeting in Germany.
What did she do? Lay into the media for an alleged lack of focus on the Russia ties of Hillary and Bill Clinton -- neither of whom are president at the moment. Sanders also argued that Trump Jr.'s initial statement was entirely truthful. "There's no inaccuracy in the statement," she said.
And, it is technically accurate. Trump Jr. -- and by extension his dad -- didn't outright lie in the statement, which said the meeting was "primarily" focused on adoptions. But they didn't tell the whole truth -- or anything close to it -- either.
Which brings us back to just how much involvement Trump actually had in the statement and what he knew of the meeting -- the pretext of which was a promise of "incriminating" information on Hillary Clinton -- prior to the Don Jr. statement to the Times.
Did he take a cursory glance at that statement? Did he make a wholesale edit? And, if the latter, how could Trump have known what to say given, in the words of Sanders, that he possessed only "limited information" about the whole thing?
Sanders' press briefing raised more questions than it gave answers. And that's saying something, given how many questions about what Trump knew (and when) we had going into today's briefing.
-- Chris | | Just one day after leaving his role as White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci was spotted at Trump International Hotel in Washington.
The Mooch told TMZ while leaving the hotel on Tuesday that he's "working on being the best person I can be." Or as CNN's Miranda C. Green put it in her article: "Scaramucci is set on living his best life."
Aren't we all.
BTW: Scaramucci also shot down a question about whether he will participate in the next season of "Dancing with the Stars," which is reportedly eyeing former White House press secretary Sean Spicer as a contestant. "I don't know how to dance," Scaramucci said. | | "It was nice to see you out in Southampton a couple weeks ago." -Wall Street Journal Editor-in-chief Gerard Baker to Ivanka Trump during an interview. The transcript was obtained by POLITICO Tuesday. | | | 'RECLAIMING MY TIME': THE GOSPEL SONG | | Rep Maxine Waters has people singing.
The California Democrat had a showdown with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a House Financial Services Committee hearing last week. Her repeated phrase "reclaiming my time" -- which she said after Mnuchin didn't directly respond to her question -- went viral. YouTuber Mykal Kilgore, a fan of the lawmaker -- who some call "Auntie Maxine" -- uploaded a gospel song, inspired by the exchange, to YouTube.
"Our beloved 'Auntie' Maxine Waters laid this sermon down so good that I had to sing about it!" the video's description reads. "Whenever anybody tries to distract me or block me (even with praise or platitudes) I'm gonna have to let them know that I'm #ReclaimingMyTime!!!!!!!" So far, the video has racked up over 100,000 views and a lot of buzz online. | | | Moving on from politically inspired jams ... we highly recommend all things Portugal. The Man. Check out one of the band's catchy recent hits, "Feel It Still." | | Sen. Jeff Flake, whose new book is out today, has come under fire after writing an op-ed in POLITICO Monday evening arguing the Republican Party is "in denial" about President Trump. You can also check out his appearance Tuesday on "The Lead" with Jake Tapper.
CNN's Liz Stark pulled a few notable quotes from the excerpt: - "It was we conservatives who, upon Obama's election, stated that our No. 1 priority was not advancing a conservative policy agenda but making Obama a one-term president -- the corollary to this binary thinking being that his failure would be our success and the fortunes of the citizenry would presumably be sorted out in the meantime."
- "To carry on in the spring of 2017 as if what was happening was anything approaching normalcy required a determined suspension of critical faculties. And tremendous powers of denial."
- "Too often, we observe the unfolding drama along with the rest of the country, passively, all but saying, 'Someone should do something!' without seeming to realize that that someone is us. And so, that unnerving silence in the face of an erratic executive branch is an abdication, and those in positions of leadership bear particular responsibility."
- "If this was our Faustian bargain, than it was not worth it. If ultimately our principles were so malleable as to no longer be principles, then what was the point of political victories in the first place?"
- "We have taken our 'institutions conducive to freedom,' as Goldwater put it, for granted as we have engaged in one of the more reckless periods of politics in our history. In 2017, we seem to have lost our appreciation for just how hard won and vulnerable those institutions are."
For more, check out Chris' story here. Or check out Flake's interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead." | | | New Jersey Sen. Corey Booker on Tuesday introduced the Marijuana Justice Act to legalize marijuana at the federal level. "For decades, the failed War on Drugs has locked up millions of nonviolent drug offenders — especially for marijuana-related offenses — at an incredible cost of lost human potential, torn apart families and communities, and taxpayer dollars," Booker wrote on Facebook. "The effects of the drug war have had a disproportionately devastating impact on Americans of color and the poor. Today I'm introducing the Marijuana Justice Act, a bill that if passed will legalize marijuana at the federal level and go even further in an effort to remedy many of the failures of the War on Drugs. This is the right thing to do for public safety, and will help reduce our overflowing prison population."
Booker, who is considered a potential #2020 Democratic candidate, has increasingly been in the national spotlight. However, he seems to tread carefully around speculation of a potential White House bid. "I don't know what the future's going to bring," Booker told David Axelrod on a July episode of the "The Axe Files," a podcast from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN. "I'm not making predictions, but I want to unleash the fullness of who I am right now, and I want to call out injustice where I see it." | | It's the 20th anniversary of "Air Bud," the lovable film franchise about the golden retriever who plays sports better than all of us. In honor of the canine MVP, The Ringer's Roger Sherman wrote a very important take: "The 'Air Bud' Plausibility Rankings."
He writes: "Buddy was a good dog and a great multisport athlete. But how realistic was his transformation from middle school basketball player to World Series MVP?" | |  | | Happy first day of August! Time flies when you're reading The Point. Tell everyone you know to subscribe. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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