Axios

Attorney General Jeff Sessions rolled out a new strategy to push back against sanctuary cities today, adding two new conditions for cities to obtain popular grants for local law enforcement from the Department of Justice:

• Federal immigration authorities must be granted access to local detention facilities.
• The federal government must receive 48 hours notice before a local authority can release an illegal immigrant in custody who is wanted by federal authorities.

Why it matters: Even as Trump hints at firing his attorney general both publicly and privately, Sessions is continuing to implement DOJ policy that's perfect red meat for Trump's base — and, indeed, Trump himself.

President Trump kicked off his joint news conference with Prime Minister Saad Hariri of Lebanon Tuesday by applauding Senate Republicans for voting to take up the health bill and congratulating the American people, "because we're going give you great health care." He later added, "This is the beginning of the end of Obamacare."

Trump also addressed the two no-votes on the motion to proceed, from Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, calling it "very sad." Other highlights from the joint presser:

Jared Kushner was questioned on his Russia contacts for roughly three hours on Tuesday by members of the House Intelligence committee, per Reuters.

Ranking member Adam Schiff (D-CA) said the hearing was "a very productive session" and that Kushner and his counsel were receptive to the notion that they may need to come back for more questioning. Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) also stated that he found Kushner to be "straight forward and forthcoming," adding that he "wanted to answer every question that we had."

In the past two weeks, Trump has been on a campaign against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, tweeting this morning that Sessions took a "VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes." A few Republicans quickly came to Sessions' defense this morning.

Why it matters: This is a heavy line up of movement leaders supporting Sessions despite Trump's criticism. If Trump decides to fire Sessions anyway, he'll need the Senate to confirm whoever he choses as the next Attorney General.

Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has been subpoenaed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday "regarding the enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and attempts to influence U.S. elections."

Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who met with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer in June of last year, will be sharing notes of the meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to a "person close to the investigation," Politico reports.

Manafort will be meeting with the committee in the next 48 hours in a closed session, per that report. His spokesman, Jason Maloni, told Axios they're feeling "upbeat" and "very positive" about the testimony.

Compare this: Manafort took notes, but Kushner said the meeting was "a waste of our time" and one he "did not recall at all" until it came up in recent media reports and Trump Jr. said the meeting produced "no meaningful information."

The Government Accountability Office, which audits other federal agencies to uncover instances of fraud and abuse of power, set up an undercover operation to determine whether the Department of Defense would sell military-grade equipment to unauthorized buyers, per The Marshall Project.

The GOA created a fake law enforcement agency — accompanied with a faux website claiming it did high-level security and counterterrorism work, and an address that led to an empty parking lot — and applied for the gear. Within a week the agency said in a report that its fake cops received $1.2 million worth of night vision goggles, simulated M-16A2 rifles, and pipe bomb equipment from the DoD's 1033 Clinton-era program.

Data: Gallup, January-June, 2017; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

Trump's average approval rating over the past six months is at or above 50% for only 17 states, per Gallup.

Notably, the three states (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania) that gave Trump the key 78,000-vote margin that set his path to victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election hold an unfavorable view (below 50% approval) of Trump.

Why it matters: As The Washington Post's Philip Bump writes, "If Trump were to win only states where he had at least 50 percent approval in the first six months of this year, he'd end up with 99 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win the presidency." And although not exact, reelection results tend to track with approval polls.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told CNN Monday he's not being considered to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Axios' Mike Allen reported this morning that President Trump has raised the idea in internal conversations. Giuliani also broke from Trump in saying Sessions "made the right decision" to recuse himself from the Russia probe.

Why it matters: As Mike noted in his report, Trump often muses about possible personnel moves that he never makes, and there's no indication as yet that Trump is willing to fire Sessions. But Trump is clearly displeased with his "beleaguered" A.G., and wants to bring people he knew before he entered politics into the fold.

Following his testimony in front of Senate Intelligence Committee staff on contacts with Russian officials during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, Jared Kushner delivered a brief statement outside of the West Wing.

The big quote: " Let me be very clear: I did not collude with Russia nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so."

A message for the base: "Donald Trump had a better message and ran a smarter campaign and that is why he won. Suggesting otherwise ridicules those who voted for him."

Cory Booker told Recode "corporate villainy" is threatening the free market, noting the consolidation of Silicon Valley companies is "not a positive trend." Booker said he thinks regulatory agencies "just aren't doing their jobs" with regards to the size of giants like Amazon and Google, and the senator thinks the U.S. government should "take a look at Google."

Why it matters: Booker's comments show the growing concerns about the market power of the major tech firms among Democrats. It's especially striking coming from a lawmaker that the left wing of the party has slammed as too close to big companies.

Booker wants SV to do some soul-searching: "We've got to start having a conversation in this country: How are we going to measure the success of the tech sector? … Is it by its ability to create a small handful of billionaires, or the ability for us to create pro-democracy force?"

It's been six months since President Trump took office, and America is already considering impeachment prospects. From a USA Today and iMediaEthics survey of 1,330 Americans over three days last week:

• 42% of Americans wants Congress to impeach Donald Trump, while 42% do not.
• There are as many Americans who would be upset if Trump is impeached as those who would be upset if he was not impeached (34%).
• Only 27% of those surveyed thought that Trump would serve a full term.

Why it matters: While President Trump is certainly not the first president to face a growing population of Americans who want him impeached, it's uncommon to be this unpopular this early in a presidency.

President Trump is so unhappy with Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he has raised the possibility of bringing back Rudolph Giuliani to head the Justice Department, according to West Wing confidants.

• In internal conversations, Trump has recently pondered the idea of nominating Giuliani, a stalwart of his campaign.
• Even before last week's blast at Sessions in a New York Times interview, Trump had expressed fury at Sessions — also one of the first prominent Republicans to back the Trump campaign — for recusing himself from the Russia investigation.
• And in a Monday morning tweet, Trump referred to "our beleaguered A.G." not investigating Hillary Clinton.

Our thought bubble: Trump often muses about possible personnel moves that he never makes, sometimes just to gauge the listener's reaction. So the Giuliani balloon may go nowhere.

New York mag cover story, "Donald Trump Is Not Invited to the Wedding: Joe, Mika, and their star-crossed relationship with the president," by Olivia Nuzzi:

Scarborough and Brzezinski said the White House is misrepresenting their motivations, though they didn't rule out that Scarborough might be interested in running for president in the future. "It was never mentioned, never discussed, and anyone who ever said it is a liar," Scarborough said. "No ambiguity there at all. I'm happy right where I am with Mika, music, and 'Morning Joe'," which he calls his "three M's." Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Scarborough is now performing and recording dad-rock; his first EP, 'Mystified,' ... was released last month ...

"How smugglers use trucks with sometimes deadly results," by AP's Michael Tarm:

• "Border officials have reported an uptick in the number of people-smuggling incidents using tractor-trailers. That included one on July 7, when Border Patrol agents in Laredo, Texas, found 72 people from Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador locked inside a trailer."
• "A recent report from European-based global -risk group Verisk Maplecroft suggests that a harder line on border security by the Trump administration might be leading migrants to accept the risks of more dangerous smuggling methods."
• "[I]mmigrants ... typically [don't want] to remain in [the] border area. Most hope to make it to large U.S. cities ... where they may have jobs or family waiting."
• Why it happens: "Smugglers know there are hundreds and thousands of immigrants desperate to get away from the border as fast as possible. ... The more people they can move at one time, the more the profit."

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today will unveil their "Better Deal" economic agenda in Berryville, Va. — a beyond-the-Beltway, classic exurban swing area.

An opening plank: "Cracking Down on Corporate Monopolies and the Abuse of Economic and Political Power."

Prevent big mergers that would harm consumers, workers, and competition.Require regulators to review mergers after completion to ensure they continue to promote competition.Create a 21st century 'Trust Buster' to stop abusive corporate conduct and the exploitation of market power where it already exists.

Go deeper in 4 pages: Better Deal overview; Jobs plan; Drug prices; Corporate monopolies.

Donald Trump Jr., who appeared short of experienced advisers with his email release and multiple statements about the Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer, is getting help from Washington stalwart Fred Fielding ahead of this week's Capitol Hill appearance.

Fielding was White House counsel to Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, and deputy counsel in the Nixon White House. He has been part of the Trump Sr. legal team, and was introduced at a news conference with the President-elect at Trump Tower in January, where he was described as helping work on conflicts-of-interest issues as Trump turned over control of his business to his sons.

Be smart: The addition of Fred Fielding shows that Trump Jr., who apparently didn't recognize the seriousness of what he faced, now does.