Axios

Donald Trump Jr. will meet with the Senate Judiciary Committee in a closed session about his meeting with a Russian government lawyer during his father's campaign for the presidency last year, CNN reports. A committee spokesman wouldn't say when it will happen, but Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein have both previously said they expect Trump Jr. to appear as soon as September.

• The discussion between Trump Jr. and the Senate panel will be transcribed.
• Why it matters: Before the meeting, Trump Jr. was promised damaging information about Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton. Special Counsel Bob Mueller is reportedly looking into whether the president tried to cover up the purpose of the meeting.
• Bonus: Mueller has issued subpoenas for the former attorney and current spokesman for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, per CNN.

President Trump is visiting Corpus Christi and Austin, Texas today as heavy flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey continues to drown the coast for a fifth straight day as it heads toward Louisiana, putting even more strain on cities struggling to keep up with emergency rescues, power outages, packed shelters, and rising floodwaters.

The human toll, by the numbers: The death of a Houston police officer who drowned in his patrol car Tuesday has brought the death toll up to at least least 15, and it is expected to rise further. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said more than 3,500 people have been rescued in the city alone, and shelter capacity has been expanded to over 9,000.

What's next: The National Hurricane Center predicts that Harvey will make landfall again late Wednesday or early Thursday, most likely near Lake Charles, Louisiana. The state is already being pounded with rain from the storm.

During a press gaggle on board Air Force One Tuesday, Sarah Sanders briefed reporters on President Trump's Texas visit:

• Trump wants to be "very cautious" about making sure his visit doesn't disrupt the recovery efforts that are still ongoing.
• Once there, Trump plans to start laying the foundation "for what we know will be a long recovery effort." He will be joined by Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz for much of visit from Corpus Christi to Austin.
• The president plans to return to the storm zone on Saturday, but no details were given.

President Trump has heatedly denied campaign connections to Russia. But congressional investigators are looking into claims by one of his closest business associates that he briefed the candidate three times on a frantic effort to get a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Why it matters: A Republican close to the White House tells Axios' Jonathan Swan: "It gives Mueller all the excuse he needs to open a full-blown investigation into Cohen. And it's worth noting that Cohen's financial affairs are inextricably intertwined with the president's."

It will soon take longer to get an employment-based green card, thanks to a new policy announced by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Monday that requires applicants to have an in-person interview to be cleared. Adding the extra hurdle will draw out an already slow process that employers and applicants have long complained about.

Why it matters: Usually, green-card applicants who are sponsored by an employer as part of a work visa — especially those on high-skilled work visas — are able to get the interview waived, helping to speed up the vetting process. That process (without an interview) already takes nearly a year, according to USCIS data.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's federal investigators are zeroing in on the president's role in responding to reports that his son, Donald Trump Jr., met with a Russian government lawyer in Trump Tower last year, "three sources familiar with the matter" told NBC News. They're interested in learning what Trump knew about the meeting and whether he tried to hide its purpose.

• The initial response on July 8 was that Trump Jr. "was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person [he] would be meeting with beforehand."
• Trump "weighed in" on that statement, according to the White House.
• It was revealed the next day that Trump Jr. had been told he'd be presented with "official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary [Clinton]."

Why it matters: Trump's involvement in the drafting carries legal risks since he's "needlessly vulnerable to allegations of a coverup," as the Washington Post put it.

The ACLU of Maryland filed a lawsuit Monday on behalf of several transgender service members challenging Trump's ban on transgender troops joining the military, per the AP. ACLU lawyers said Trump gave "no evidence" that the ban is based on analysis of "actual cost and disruption allegedly caused by allowing men and women who are transgender to serve openly."

Other challenges:

• Several other transgender service members filed suit in federal courts Monday, as well, CNN reports.
• Five current and former military professors released a policy memo claiming Trump's ban doesn't leave Defense Secretary Mattis much discretion in deciding the status of transgender troops currently serving. Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, told Axios "the president is discriminating against transgender service members for reasons that have everything to do with emotion and politics and nothing to do with military."

President Trump took part in a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö at the White House this afternoon, pledging his support for regions affected by Hurricane Harvey and defending his decision to pardon Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio.

• On funding Harvey recovery: "You're going to see very rapid action from Congress…We expect to have requests on our desk very soon, and we expect Congress will feel very much the way I feel in a bipartisan way, which will be nice."
• Defending Arpaio: Trump stood by his decision as "the right thing to do" and defended the pardon's timing — a Friday evening as Harvey took aim at the Texas coast — by saying that he expected cable news ratings to be "far higher" given the storm.
• Shutting down the government over the wall: "I hope that's not necessary. If it's necessary, we'll have to see."

Trump: "Protecting the lives of our people is my highest priority. Every asset at my command is at the disposal of local officials." pic.twitter.com/KdzxGgfdEU— Axios (@axios) August 28, 2017Trump asks the Finnish president why he called on the same reporter twice, but they were different women. pic.twitter.com/JAala68MJ6— Axios (@axios) August 28, 2017

The Washington Post reported last night on the existence of an ultimately abandoned plan to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow during late 2015 and early 2016 — right before the start of the 2016 presidential primaries. And today, the NYT and WaPo dropped two new reports detailing emails about the project from Felix Sater, a Trump business associate, and Michael Cohen, a close friend of Trump's and an executive vice president at The Trump Organization.

Michael Cohen, an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, emailed Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, in January 2016 and asked him to help accelerate the building of a Trump Tower in Moscow, reports The Washington Post, citing documents submitted to Congress Monday.

"Over the past few months I have been working with a company based in Russia regarding the development of a Trump Tower - Moscow project in Moscow City. Without getting into lengthy specifics, the communication between our two sides has stalled... As this project is too important, I am hereby requesting your assistance. I respectfully request someone, preferably you, contact me so that I might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals."

Why it matters: Cohen's email to Peskov is the most direct documented correspondence of a top Trump aide and a high-ranking member of Putin's government during the campaign.

Felix Sater, a business associate of President Trump, reportedly promised in 2015 to build a Trump Tower in Moscow with the aid of Vladimir Putin, and said the real estate deal would help Trump win the 2016 election, reports The New York Times.

• Sater, a Russian immigrant who was a broker for the Trump organization at the time, reportedly sent a series of emails to Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, "boasting" about his close ties Putin. In one email, Sater wrote, "Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process."
• In another email Sater wrote, "I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected."
• Why it matters: The emails provide tangible evidence that "from the earliest months of Mr. Trump's campaign, his associates viewed close ties with Moscow as a political advantage," writes the NYT. Those ties are now being closely investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Timing: On Sunday, The Washington Post reported on the existence of the emails between Sater and Cohen, but did not report on the content that was shared. On Monday, the Trump Organization turned the emails over to the House Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own probe into whether any of Trump's campaign officials were involved with Russia's interference in the election.

Their defense: "To be clear, the Trump Organization has never had any real estate holdings or interests in Russia," The Trump Organization said in a statement Monday. Cohen also issued a statement, saying Sater "has sometimes used colorful language and has been prone to 'salesmanship.' I ultimately determined that the proposal was not feasible and never agreed to make a trip to Russia."

Hillary Clinton is hitting the road for a book tour across the United States and Canada this fall to promote What Happened, her forthcoming memoir on the 2016 presidential election.

• How her publisher is promoting it: "She'll connect with audiences with a story that's personal, raw, detailed, and surprisingly funny. She'll take you with her on her journey and talk about WHAT HAPPENED, what's next, and what's on your mind."
• The content: From the excerpts released so far, it sounds like Clinton will let loose in the book — branding President Trump a "creep" who made her "skin [crawl]" and discussing letting down millions of Americans.
• Cue the jokes: The tour is taking her to Wisconsin exactly one year and one day after the 2016 election. She'll be stopping in Michigan and Pennsylvania, too.

President Trump is rolling back an Obama-era law that limited the amount of surplus military equipment that was passed on to local law enforcement agencies. The order was announced Monday, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered a speech to the national conference of the Fraternal Order of Police in Tennessee.

Why it matters

• Trump has vowed on several occasions to lift the Obama-era ban. It's in keeping with Trump and Sessions' law-and-order agenda that aims to curb violent crimes by providing government support to local police.
• Critics argue that the timing of the move could escalate the racial tension that has grown out of the violence in Charlottesville, and further exacerbate the outrage that followed Trump's controversial response.

The facts

• Since 1990, the Defense Department allowed the transfer of surplus military equipment and supplies to federal, state, and local law enforcement, per NBC. The program was initially established to aid police in drug investigations, but it was later expanded to include all police missions.
• In 2014, the Justice Department concluded that the military-grade equipment, such as riot gear and tear gas, used by law enforcement in the Ferguson, Missouri protests of 18-year-old Michael Brown's death only escalated the unrest.
• As a result, Obama issued an executive order that made some gear off-limits, such as bayonets and grenade launchers, while other equipment required proof of the police agency's need.
• "We've seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like they're an occupying force, as opposed to a force that's part of the community that's protecting them and serving them," Obama said in announcing the ban in 2015.

The other side

• Many police organizations across the country have been pushing Trump for the reversal of the Obama-era ban, as they feel the equipment provides protection when responding to active shooter calls and terrorist attacks, per USA Today.
• Some law enforcement officials have also pointed to the use of an armored vehicle that played an important role in the police response to the December 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, per AP.
• As Jeff Sessions noted Monday, reinstating the program has economic advantages, such as saving billions of taxpayer dollars by recycling gear that has already purchased.

Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it "will not negotiate NAFTA ... through social media or any other news platform." The statement came in response to President Trump's Sunday morning tweets, which called Mexico "one of the highest crime nations in the world" and said the U.S. "may have to terminate" NAFTA.

• Why it matters: Trump has called his Twitter presence "modern day presidential," but tweets can't replace diplomatic negotiations.
• On violence in Mexico: "It is a shared problem that will only end if its root causes are addressed: high demand for drugs in the United States and supply from Mexico (and other countries)," the foreign ministry wrote.
• On the border wall: "Our country will not pay, under any circumstances, for a wall," it continued.

"Moscow Trump Tower was proposed," by Carol Leonnig, Tom Hamburger and Roz Helderman in WaPo: "While Donald Trump was running for president in late 2015 and early 2016, his company was pursuing a plan to develop a massive Trump Tower in Moscow."

• "Trump never went to Moscow."
• Why it matters: "[T]he details of the deal ... provide evidence that Trump's business was actively pursuing significant commercial interests in Russia at the same time he was campaigning to be president — and in a position to determine U.S.-Russia relations."
• "[E]mails, which are scheduled to be turned over to congressional investigators soon, ... point to the likelihood of additional contacts between Russia-connected individuals and Trump associates during his presidential bid."

Axios got the first look at survey results out this morning finding that 74% of respondents said they support net neutrality legislation that would ban blocking, throttling and fast lanes on the internet — and that would apply to all internet companies (both ISPs like AT&T and edge providers like Google). That's notable since net neutrality discussions have typically targeted only ISPs.

The online survey was commissioned by CALinnovoates, a San Francisco-based tech advocacy group whose members include AT&T (which supports legislation), Uber, and a number of startups.