The foreign ministers of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine met in Berlin today to take another stab at peace in Ukraine. The U.S. is not represented, but President Trump’s presence will likely be felt in ways that he didn’t intend — and that Vladimir Putin will not appreciate.
The big picture: President Trump’s suggestion that Russia be re-invited to meetings between the leading Western democracies got this year’s G7 summit in Quebec off to a tumultuous start. Like his previous attempts to improve relations with Putin, Trump’s latest diplomatic effort was so ham-handed that it will likely make international cooperation more fraught, even for Russia.
On a leader-to-leader level, relationships between the U.S. and its most powerful allies are in tatters. That much is clear when a senior U.S. official declares "there's a special place in hell" for the prime minister of Canada. Canada!
The bigger picture: Antipathy for the U.S. in allied countries extends far beyond those leaders, and it's spiking under Trump. The U.S. has historically been the de facto leader within its strategic alliances, but an unpopular leader can quickly become a bully. The G7 summit showed the limits to that approach.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday afternoon that domestic violence and gang violence will no longer serve as sufficient reasons to automatically grant an immigrant asylum.
Why it matters: The decision comes as the U.S. faces a significant uptick in asylum claims, and as the Trump administration continues to do all it can to cut back on border crossings and immigration numbers. Sessions has often been skeptical of the asylum process in the U.S., claiming that it is often abused by immigrants trying to come to the U.S. for other reasons.
GuideWell Mutual Holding Corp., the parent company of health insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, appointed former Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell to its board of directors Monday. It's a paid position, but GuideWell declined to give specifics.
Between the lines: Florida Blue was one of the most profitable health insurers on the Affordable Care Act's exchanges during Burwell's tenure at HHS, and it remains highly profitable today. Her board position also falls in line with the longstanding trend of HHS secretaries gettingseatsincorporateAmerica'sboardrooms.
Spain's Prime Minister announced Monday that his country would take in a stranded ship with 629 immigrants on board after Italy's new populist, right-wing government blocked it from docking on its shores.
Why it matters: This is the first concrete action from Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party and Italy's new Interior Minister, to back up his anti-immigration rhetoric. Salvini tweeted about the ship several times yesterday and called Spain's move a "victory." Salvini has indicated he plans to turn away such ships in the future as well, which could lead to a humanitarian crisis in Europe. An estimated 3,100 migrants died at sea trying to cross from North Africa to Europe last year.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is changing the way it processes voter file data to make the Democratic Party more competitive in 2020, Raffi Krikorian, the group's chief technology officer, told Axios.
Why it matters: Democrats are trying to fix what went wrong for them in 2016 by overhauling their entire tech operation, from data management to email strategies.
Former President Barack Obama has held private meetings with at least nine Democratic contenders for the 2020 presidential nomination, Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere reports, citing sources familiar with the conversations.
Why it matters: A meeting with Obama is an easy way for 2020 contenders to gain legitimacy and presidential wisdom — and, most importantly, a foothold with the man still largely considered to be the Democratic Party's figurehead.
So much of the Trump presidency feels like reality TV. But the pardon process is turning into a let’s-make-a-deal game show.
The big picture: Trump, the host, has asked friends, staff, celebrities and even NFL kneelers for ideas on who to pardon. Should Martha Stewart get one? How about Muhammad Ali? Blago? Trump himself? Anyone? (Programming note: This is not just abnormal, it’s never happened in American history. Back to the show ... )
The federal government was forced to dedicate a team of records management analysts to tape together official papers that President Trump had ripped up — per aides, his "unofficial filing system" — in order to ensure that the administration adhered to federal law, according to a report from Politico's Annie Karni.
The details: Under federal law, the White House is required to preserve all memos, letters, emails and papers that the president touches and send them to the National Archives. The White House's records management team was abruptly downsized this year —and two career officials reached out to Politico to claim they were forced out of their positions, which led them to describe the substance of their work under Trump.
The details: McConnell has used "scheming, strategizing and tactical maneuvering to win five reelection campaigns and rise through the ranks." His tenure: 11 years, five months and 10 days.
Mitt Romney will most likely come to Washington early next year as a senator from Utah, but the former GOP presidential nominee has already begun laying out what role he hopes to play in the Republican Party, which has radically shifted under President Trump.
The big question: It's still unclear what he plans to do concerning Trump, whom he had criticized during the 2016 presidential campaign as someone who would cause the United States to "cease to be a shining city on a hill" before adopting a more conciliatory tone in recent months.
