Rex Tillerson has been tasked with steering the State Department into an "America First" era, with looming budget cuts and a shrinking mission.
Why it matters: Nancy McEldowney, who resigned in June from her role as Director of the Foreign Service Institute at the State Department, told Axios "it became a very difficult and discouraging environment" and warned that the core identity of the department was in jeopardy.
Trump waved from Air Force One alongside his grandchildren after arriving at Morristown Airport Friday evening. He's starting for a 17-day stay at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, while the White House undergoes some summer renovations.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions — along with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats — held a press conference this morning to announce a Department of Justice crackdown on government leaks, especially those that threaten national security.
One big thing: Sessions said that the DOJ might begin reviewing the potential for media subpoenas, saying that the press does not have an "unlimited" role in American society. "They cannot place lives at risk with impunity. We must balance the press' role with protecting our national security and the lives of those who serve in our intelligence community, the armed forces, and all law-abiding Americans."
In an interview with The Arizona Republic Thursday, McCain explained that he's concerned about the Trump administration's approach to immigration reform:
"I'm not against a border wall, OK, but go to China and you'll see a border wall there. We need technology, we need drones, we need surveillance capabilities and we need rapid-reaction capabilities... But to think that a wall is going to stop illegal immigration or drugs is crazy."
McCain also said he supports a merit-based system, but worries about how low-skilled workers, such as those who pick strawberries in fields across America, would survive under the Cotton-Perdue bill that Trump helped introduce Wednesday.
"I think you have to consider that we do want high-tech people, but we also need low-skilled people who will do work that Americans won't do," McCain said. "I wouldn't do it."
President Trump hosted a campaign-style rally in Huntington, West Virginia Thursday evening, hitting on several of his key rally topics: unfair trade, immigration and the border wall, healthcare, the "Russian hoax," calling on investigators to look at Hillary Clinton's emails, and of course, his election victory.
We didn't win because of Russia. We won because of you.
Also at the rally, Jim Justice, West Virginia's governor, announced he is registering as a Republican.
