| | | | 4 things to watch for this week in politics 👀 | | President Donald Trump has kicked off his summer vacation at his golf course in New Jersey. But that doesn't mean things are slowing down in the capital. In fact, as CNN's ace White House team noted in its recent report, "presidential summer vacations, perhaps more than their winter counterparts, are often interrupted by world developments." Here are four political news items to pay attention to this week.
1. No August recess for the Senate. Senators are stuck in Washington after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, canceled the usual monthlong recess this year for his chamber. CNN's Lauren Fox reported Sunday: "McConnell announced he will keep members in town most of the month to pass spending bills and confirm Trump administration nominees, a move that has attracted quiet grumbling and consternation from Senate aides and members. ... With the Senate in session, members up for re-election will have less time to campaign and senators stuck within the Beltway will have to answer for any of Trump's latest tweets."
2. The Manafort trial continues. Monday marked day five of Paul Manafort's trial. Trump's former campaign chairman has been charged with a slate of financial crimes, including bank fraud and tax evasion, related to old lobbying work he did for the pro-Russia government of Ukraine. Rick Gates, the prosecution's star witness, took the stand Monday. Gates told the court about his admission that he committed crimes alongside Manafort, to which he pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the federal investigators. Gates served as Manafort's right-hand man in their multimillion dollar political consulting business. He was also a deputy campaign manager for Trump. He agreed to a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller to give evidence against his former boss in return for a potentially reduced sentence. (Continue following CNN's coverage of the trial here.)
3. Coming soon: The Trump team's response to Mueller regarding an interview. Rudy Giuliani told CNN's Dana Bash on Monday that Trump's legal team is preparing to respond to Mueller regarding the possibility of an interview of the President. Per her reporting, "Giuliani, one of Trump's lawyers, would not characterize the response. He's recently suggested that Trump and his lawyers would be making a final decision soon, but other sources have said the coming response would likely be another effort to counter the latest from Mueller and not a final offer."
4. Another big primary day. There's one special election (Ohio) and four primaries (Kansas, Missouri, Michigan and Washington state) on Tuesday. What should you pay attention to? First, in Ohio, Republican Troy Balderson will face off against Democrat Danny O'Connor in the state's 12th Congressional District. A loss for Balderson in this district, which has historically favored Republicans, would further signal that Democrats have the momentum heading into November. It's going to be a tight race: A Monmouth University poll released last week shows Balderson receiving 44% support to O'Connor's 43%, with 11% of respondents saying they are undecided. Trump praised Balderson at a rally in Ohio on Saturday.
Also something to watch for: Whether any of the progressive left candidates, some of them backed by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, will win their races in the coming weeks. As CNN's Greg Krieg wrote in his recent dispatch from Michigan, "progressive outsiders will test their mettle against establishment Democrats in elections from Hawaii to Delaware and Massachusetts." On Tuesday in Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is vying against the odds and conventional wisdom to become the country's first Muslim governor. In Kansas, labor lawyer Brent Welder, who rallied recently with Sanders and congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, is among the Democrats running for a seat in Kansas' 3rd Congressional District. Same for James Thompson in the state's 4th District primary. Missouri's Cori Bush is waging a long-shot bid to unseat Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay.
The Point: There is no such thing as a quiet week in Washington.
-- Saba | | | Saba recently watched "Eighth Grade" (HIGHLY recommend it!). Enya's "Orinoco Flow" is featured in the trailer and also in the film itself. Here's why director Bo Burnham included it in the film on purpose. | | | Today's topic, tackled by Brenna: King (LeBron) James -- king of controversy? | | BID FITBITS FAREWELL AT PENTAGON | | If you wanted to keep track of whether you got your 10,000 steps in and work for the Defense Department, you may be out of luck.
CNN's Ryan Browne reported Monday: "The Pentagon is banning deployed personnel from using fitness trackers, smartphones and potentially even dating apps that use geolocating features that could reveal the user's location. The ban was announced in a Pentagon memorandum issued Friday and signed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan."
The policy memo read: "Effective immediately, Defense Department personnel are prohibited from using geolocation features and functionality on government and non-government-issued devices, applications and services while in locations designated as operational areas."
Read more in CNN's story here. | | | The Trump administration has reimposed US sanctions on Iran. They will officially go back into effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. The administration's decision comes months after President Donald Trump announced the United States was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. That agreement established curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Per reporting from CNN's Nicole Gaouette and Donna Borak, "administration officials said that newly reimposed US sanctions are meant to change the regime's behavior, not topple leaders in Tehran."
Meanwhile, Trump threatened "severe consequences" for those who continue to trade with Iran. In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said: "Trump Administration wants the world to believe it's concerned about the Iranian people. Yet the very first sanctions it reimposed have canceled licenses for sales of 200+ passenger jets under absurd pretexts, endangering ordinary Iranians. US hypocrisy knows no bounds." | | Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul spent Monday in Russia, where he met with Russian members of parliament in Moscow. Here's what is significant about this trip: - Paul has officially invited Russian lawmakers to Washington. He said: "I am pleased to announce that we will be continuing this contact. We agreed and we invited members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Russia to come to the US to meet with us in the US, in Washington."
- The trip marks the continuation of President Donald Trump's outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reminder: Trump invited Putin to DC as well.
- But ... did they talk about Russian interference in the US election? Paul said: "We had general discussions about a lot of issues and basically we've decided that right now we will try to ... establish a dialogue and solve issues." Senior Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev, who was also in the room, reiterated the Russian position that "there was no interference in 2016."
Read more in CNN's full story about Paul's trip here. | | | From Brenna: "Bill Clinton spoke at the University of South Carolina today and made some points of his own. Let this one serve as a reminder to tell your friends to subscribe to The Point." | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media, and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba.
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