Axios

President Trump has "obviously reflected on what he has said" about the violence in Charlottesville, Senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate, told CBS News after meeting with Trump. In separate comments to reporters at the Capitol, Scott said it "will take time" for Trump to regain moral authority after he noted there were "very fine people" on "both sides" of the violence in Charlottesville, according to the AP. Scott said he urged Trump to avoid making inflammatory comments about race.

Trump's thinking behind the comments: Trump said he meant to say "that there was an antagonist on the other side," but Scott told reporters "the real picture has nothing to do with who is on the other side…I shared my thoughts of the last three centuries of challenges from white supremacists, white nationalists, KKK, neo-Nazis, so there is no way to find an equilibrium when you have three centuries of history."

Go deeper with Axios' Jonathan Swan: Inside President Trump's meeting with Tim Scott

President Trump has blocked a Chinese government-backed equity firm from purchasing Lattice Semiconductor Corp., an American semiconductor manufacturer, citing national security concerns, per Bloomberg.

• The risks, according to the White House: "The Chinese government's role in supporting this transaction, the importance of semiconductor supply chain integrity to the United States government, and the use of Lattice products by the United States government."
• It's only the fourth time in 25 years that a president has blocked a foreign purchase of an American company.
• Why it matters: The move is reflective of the Trump administration's combative position toward China, especially where the economy overlaps with national security.

Sarah Sanders confirmed Wednesday that President Trump is hosting Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi for dinner tonight, and added that Trump wants to work with "all members of Congress" on tax reform and other legislation if it will help advance his agenda. "This president has done more for bipartisanship in the last 8 days than Obama did in the last 8 years," she said. "I'm basing that on the fact that he's actually willing to sit down with members of the opposite party, something President Obama rarely did."

As for why Trump didn't invite Speaker Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to the dinner? Sanders said, "You've got the leader of the Republican Party sitting at the table... anybody who thinks the Republican viewpoint isn't being represented is completely misunderstanding that the president is the leader of the Republican Party."

The ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the ACLU of Massachusetts sued the Department of Homeland Security in federal court in Massachusetts today over what they claim are unwarranted border searches of laptops and phones.

The complaint cites 11 plaintiffs, a group which includes 10 U.S. citizens and one lawful permanent resident. Each of the plaintiffs had their devices searched while returning to the U.S. from personal or business travel, including from Canada, UAE, and Chile. In one plaintiff's case, Customs and Border Patrol officers reportedly choked him and physically restrained him to obtain his phone. DHS has been holding onto one plaintiff's phone since January.

Michael Flynn Jr., the son of President Trump's ousted national security advisor, is now a focus of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, per a report from NBC News.

• What he did: He was heavily involved in his father's lobbying work with the Flynn Intel Group, even traveling to Moscow for a gala hosted by state-sponsored RT in 2015 where the elder Flynn dined with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier this year, he held an official transition email address — but his exact role with the fledgling Trump administration was never made clear.
• Another pastime: The younger Flynn remains active in alt-right Twitter circles and was a vocal supporter of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.
• Our thought bubble: If Mueller wants to flip Flynn to testify against Trump associates, involving his son in the investigation could be a great way to compel him to talk.

Paul Ryan said that he believes that removing DACA recipients from the United States "is not in our nation's interest" at an AP Newsmakers event this morning — with the caveat that immigration reform has to include increased border security.

• More on immigration: Ryan said that a clean DREAM Act is a no-go with his Republican caucus and made the case for some form of a physical barrier: "I think a wall actually works…Circumstances on the ground should dictate what you need at various places."
• Tax reform: According to Ryan, the GOP's goal is to pass tax reform by the end of 2017.
• Trump and Congress: "It gets a little frustrating [for Trump] because Congress doesn't work like a business."

Four White House appointments of people you'll see and hear much more of:

• Hope Hicks — President Trump's most trusted aide, period — was officially named White House communications director.
• Mercedes Schlapp, a former Fox News contributor and George W. Bush aide, will be Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications.
• Raj Shah will be Principal Deputy Press Secretary.
• Steven Cheung will be Director of Strategic Response.

Steve Bannon will speak in Berkeley later this month "as part of Free Speech Week, a four-day event organized by The Berkeley Patriot, a conservative student publication," according to the N.Y. Times.

"New York Times White House correspondents Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush have agreed to do a Trump book for Random House," Vanity Fair's Joe Pompeo reports, noting that both are veterans of the New York tabloid world.

The House approved a bipartisan measure Tuesday evening that "rejects white nationalism, white supremacy, and neo-Nazism as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values that define the people of the United States" and urges President Trump to "speak out against hate groups." The Senate approved it Monday evening.

Next up: Trump's desk.

The big picture: Such gestures are typically symbolic, but the Charlottesville measure is a joint resolution. With a signature, the president would officially condemn hate groups — a move he made only halfheartedly in the days after Charlottesville. He'd also be labeling Heather Heyer's death a "domestic terror attack," per the language in the resolution.

The Supreme Court has sided with the Trump administration, allowing the ban on most refugees to continue, the AP reports. The Supreme Court blocked a lower court ruling that made the ban more accommodating to some refugees.

This resolves the emergency application the Department of Justice filed Monday to get the Supreme Court to consider whether the lower court's ruling was in line with the Supreme Court's earlier judgement, which allowed the ban to take effect under certain conditions.

What's next: The Supreme Court will hear arguments next month to determine the legality of the ban.

Hillary Clinton's book about the 2016 election, "What Happened," was published today. It's clear from interviews and excerpts that Clinton at least partially blames Bernie Sanders for her loss.

Here are highlights of her quotes bashing Bernie, from her book, an interview with CBS, the podcast Pod Save America and NPR.

White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short said border wall funding did not necessarily need to be tied to a legislative fix for DACA as part of the Trump administration's vision for comprehensive immigration reform, per USA Today.

• The key quote: "Whether or not [a border wall] is part of a DACA equation or whether or not that's another legislative vehicle, I don't want to bind ourselves into a construct that makes reaching a conclusion on DACA impossible."
• Short also said tax reform might be Trump's next bipartisan vehicle. "The feedback we've received from many Democrats is they recognize that corporate rates are too high, they recognize the corporate tax system is unfair, it's causing American companies to leave our shores."

Correction: This story has been updated to better reflect Short's position. He did not say the two issues shouldn't be tied together, only that the administration wasn't insisting on it.

Steve Bannon delivered his first post-White House speech at an investor forum in Hong Kong today, hosted by CLSA, an overseas unit of Chinese brokerage firm Citic Securities Co. The talk focused on American economic nationalism, the populist revolt and Asia.

The press was barred form his speech, but Wei Du, a correspondent at Channel News Asia, snagged an inside seat. Du live tweeted Bannon's remarks, which she described as a "not so anti-China speech." The major takeaways:

Data: The Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, August 9-13, 2017, 1,013 respondents; Chart: Chris Canipe / Axios

"More than half of Americans (53%) incorrectly think it is accurate to say that immigrants who are here illegally do not have any rights under the U.S. Constitution," according to the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

37% of the 1,013 adults surveyed (37%) can't name any of the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment. Why it matters, from Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the center's director: "Protecting the rights guaranteed by the Constitution presupposes that we know what they are."

Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said she expects Donald Trump Jr. to come back to Capitol Hill for a public hearing about his 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer, "come hell or high water," CNN reports.

Trump Jr. delivered a prepared statement behind closed doors before Senate staff and Democratic Senators last week, saying he was interested in setting up the meeting to assess Hillary Clinton's "fitness" for office.