One thing is true of all major political scandals: What we know in the moment is but a tiny, obscured, partial view of the full story later revealed by investigators.
Why it matters: That’s what makes the Trump-Russia drama all the more remarkable. Forget all we don’t know. The known facts that even Trump’s closest friends don’t deny tell a damning tale that would sink most leaders.
After Tuesday's West Virginia primary, red-state Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is now trailing Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey by two points in his re-election race, according to a new poll conducted by WPA intelligence.
Why it matters: That's within the margin of error, but the poll is a sign that the GOP has improved its chances of defeating Manchin since Don Blankenship lost the primary this week. Manchin is in an especially vulnerable position given that President Trump won West Virginia by 42 points 2016.
The Trump administration announced a new policy Friday that tightens rules for foreign or exchange students who overstay U.S. visas by counting days overstayed, not from the time the violation is reported, but from the time the visa expires.
Why it matters: The new rules, which are set to go into effect in 90 days, will count significantly more days as time overstayed. Students are banned from re-entering the country based on how long they overstayed their visas. Per the Wall Street Journal, 180-day overstay results in a 3-year ban, and an overstay of over a year prompts a 10-year ban.
Why it matters: A mostly-male staff can lead to other institutional barriers for women, like getting promotions, reporting sexual harassment and changing campaign culture. These stats are a wake-up call to 2020 presidential candidates, which will likely include multiple women.
Firehouse Strategies, a Republican firm, partnered with the data analytics team at Optimus to interview 2,486 likely midterm voters in four swing states (Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin), and found that "the Mueller investigation is gaining credibility among independent voters."
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly defended Attorney General Jeff Sessions' new "zero tolerance" immigration policy during an interview with NPR, saying they wouldn't "easily assimilate into the United States."
Executives with major automakers are headed to the White House to meet with President Trump at 11:45am ET.
Why it matters: Automakers are in a delicate spot, as we noted earlier this week. They've complained that Obama-era mileage mandates for model years 2022–2025 are unrealistically tough.
President Trump isn't afraid to punch on foreign turf, even after getting the red carpet.
The big picture: As the White House prepares for the summit with North Korea in Singapore on June 12 ("a once unimaginable encounter," the N.Y. Times calls it), we've put together a look at President Trump handles foreign leaders when the doors are closed:
