During an August 2017 Oval Office meeting to discuss sanctions on Venezuela, President Trump — to the dismay of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former National Security adviser H.R. McMaster — asked his top aides about the potential of having the U.S. invade the country, reports the AP's Joshua Goodman, citing a senior administration official familiar with the conversation.
Why it matters: A military invasion of Venezuela could jeopardize the U.S. relations with Latin American governments involved in the ongoing effort to punish Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for moving the country toward a dictatorship, the administration official told Goodman.
In an op-ed for The Hill last week, Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz lamented that politics have caused him to be shunned by his social circle at his Martha's Vineyard summer retreat.
The big picture: Dershowitz, who maintains that he is a Democrat and disagrees with Trump's policies, has been an outspoken TV critic of Robert Mueller's investigation and a defender of Trump's right to fire James Comey. His claims extend the civility debate currently facing Trump administration officials in their private lives to anyone with a high profile who can be viewed as enabling Trump.
The Danish government is introducing a new set of assimilation laws that'll apply to 25 immigrant "ghettos" — largely low-income, Muslim-majority urban neighborhoods, reports the New York Times.
Why it matters: Denmark's moves, many of which have already been approved by its parliament, would compel immigrants to assimilate to avoid legal consequences. Critics of the legislation say it essentially imposes harsher laws on certain people simply because they are immigrants.
Rep. Jim Jordan, founding member of the House Freedom Caucus and a former assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State university, vehemently denied that he ignored accusations of sexual abuse against the wrestling team's doctor, and told Politico that those who say otherwise are lying.
“It’s not true. I never knew about any type of abuse. If I did, I would have done something about it. And look, if there are people who are abused, then that’s terrible and we want justice to happen.”
One of President Trump's top Supreme Court contenders, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, has reportedly triggered strong reservations among social conservatives who are infuriated over some of his past rulings and close ties to establishment Republicans.
The details: As President Trump narrows down his list of candidates to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, critics are pointing to Kavanaugh's connections to the George W. Bush White House — Trump hates all things Bush — and his record on health care and abortion as being red flags, reports the Washington Post's Robert Costa and Josh Dawsey.
Qatar has agreed to purchase New York's famous Plaza Hotel — previously owned by President Donald Trump — for roughly $600 million, Reuters' Dmitry Zhdannikov reports.
The big picture: This is the largest investment from Qatar in Western property since its Gulf neighbors initiated a blockade on the small country last year. And according to per Zhdannikov, Qatar has been on a spending spree of "top hotels and luxury properties in the West" as it seeks to "diversify the wealth it accumulates from gas and oil exports." The Qatar-owned Katara Holding is purchasing full ownership of the Plaza, which will include a 75% stake from Sahara India Pariwar, an Indian business group.
Russian interference continued beyond January 2017, when the intelligence community issued its assessment (ICA), according to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s second unclassified report on Russian election activities, published Tuesday.
One big thing: The committee also reaffirmed its support for the intelligence community's findings, stating that the report's conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with a clear "preference" for then-candidate Donald Trump is "supported by the evidence.”
The almost 2,000 migrant parents who have been separated from their children are being given an ultimatum from the Trump administration: Reunite with your kids and be deported as a family, or be deported without them, according to an immigration form obtained by NBC News' Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff.
Yes, but: This form is only given to parents who have received removal orders, and does not prevent them from applying for asylum, a Department of Homeland Security official told Axios.
Former Ohio State University wrestlers are accusing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus and the university's assistant wrestling coach from 1986 to 1994, of ignoring or failing to act against accusations of sexual abuse against the team's doctor, NBC News' Corky Siemaszko reports.
The details: Jordan denies having ever heard of, seen, or known about allegations of sexual abuse against Dr. Richard Strauss, who died in 2005. But former wrestler Mike DiSabato, whose allegations prompted OSU to open an investigation earlier this year, told NBC News that Jordan "is absolutely lying if he says he doesn’t know what was going on."
Backed by Russian airpower, the Assad regime has begun retaking Syria's rebel-controlled southwest. Using a mix of infiltration, negotiated surrenders and brute military force, the regime has overrun nearly all of the rebel-held southwest’s eastern sector, displacing more than 270,000. The western sector adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan is likely next.
Why it matters. Syria’s southwest corner, abutting Jordan and Israel, is where the uprising began seven years ago. For the Syrian regime, this marks one of the last chapters of this phase of the war, in which Assad seeks to reconquer all territory unprotected by foreign boots on the ground. With the northwest overseen by Turkey and the northeast controlled by U.S.–backed Kurdish forces, that leaves only this southwest pocket up for grabs.
The Trump administration plans to tell schools not to consider race as a factor for admissions standards, discontinuing a policy that the Obama administration adopted as an attempt to increase diversity at colleges and high schools, the New York Times reports.
The big picture: The reversal of affirmative action coincides with several similar announcements by the Justice Department, which has been reevaluating past guidelines. The new policy will revert back to what was in place during George W. Bush's administration, when officials told schools to ensure "race-neutral methods" in the college acceptance process, or elementary and secondary school selections.
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey quashed speculation that she might embark on a 2020 presidential run in an interview with Vogue UK, saying that running for president "would kill" her.
"In that political structure — all the non-truths, the bulls---, the crap, the nastiness, the backhanded backroom stuff that goes on — I feel like I could not exist. I would not be able to do it. It's not a clean business."
The backdrop: During the Golden Globes in January, Winfrey's heartfelt acceptance speech for a lifetime achievement award prompted a wave of speculation that she might consider a presidential run in 2020, buoyed by a declaration from her partner, Stedman Graham, to the Los Angeles Times that she'd "absolutely" consider a run.
Republican infighting in the race to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake in Arizona and heightened Democratic enthusiasm in Kansas both have the GOP worried ahead of November's midterm elections, per AP.
Why it matters: Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the Senate, making the Arizona seat crucial to thwarting Democrats' efforts to retake the chamber. And with Democrats targeting 101 GOP-held districts, Republicans can't afford to lose what should be easy seats in Kansas, a state President Trump won by 21 points.
Imran Awan, a former House IT staffer at the center of right-wing conspiracies, pleaded guilty to bank fraud after reaching a plea deal on Tuesday morning, CNN reports. The government acknowledged that there was no evidence to support claims that Awan had stolen confidential information from Congressional servers.
Why it matters: President Trump has tweeted about Awan and his connections with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz — the former DNC chairwoman — alluding to conspiracy theories about Awan's involvment in the DNC email hacks.
Trump has called into question why the National Security Agency announced last week it had started deleting years’ worth of call records in May that were wrongly collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
What they’re saying: The NSA said last week it was deleting 685 million records because of “technical irregularities” that enabled the agency to collect data it wasn’t supposed to. Trump said Tuesday: "Wow! The NSA has deleted 685 million phone calls and text messages. Privacy violations? They blame technical irregularities. Such a disgrace. The Witch Hunt continues!"
President Trump has ordered flags that flags across the country be flown at half-staff on Tuesday in honor of the five victims killed in the Capital Gazette shooting last week.
The big picture: Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley said yesterday that his request to lower flags was denied by the White House, per the Baltimore Sun. But, according to ABC News' Karen Travers, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that while the denial came via the White House's official protocol, Trump himself made the call after hearing about the request.
"The Trump administration is making inroads into ... reducing legal immigration," the WashPost reports. "The number of people receiving visas to move permanently to the United States is on pace to drop 12 percent in President Trump’s first two years in office, according to a Washington Post analysis of State Department data."
The details: "Among the most affected are the Muslim-majority countries on the president’s travel ban list — Yemen, Syria, Iran, Libya and Somalia — where the number of new arrivals to the United States is heading toward an 81 percent drop by Sept. 30, the end of the second fiscal year under Trump."
President Trump went after the left's recent campaign to "Abolish ICE" in a Tuesday morning tweet, saying that ICE officers are required to fight the "infestation of MS-13 GANGS" in parts of the United States.
Reality check: What Trump gets wrong about MS-13 ... "[T]hey're not growing, they're likely not involved in an extensive drug trade and most immigrants crossing the border are not trying to join them."
Women are among those leading the charge in efforts to reunite immigrant children with their families in response to the "zero tolerance" immigration policy and family separations.
The big picture: Women from a range of backgrounds — from religious leaders to chefs — have amplified the opposition to the Trump administration's border policies; many also took part in women's marches as part of opposition to Trump. They've used platforms such as Facebook groups, GoFundMe campaigns and coalition websites to organize on-the-ground volunteer work, rallies and other activism.
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing, chaired by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on July 11, on paid family leave policy.
Why it matters: It’s a rare sign of movement from the Republican Senate on an issue that isn't a traditional focus for Republicans. In pushing this policy from the White House, Ivanka Trump has had to contend with a skeptical chief of staff, John Kelly — who's described the plan as a "pet project" — and a myriad of other skeptics on Capitol Hill and inside the conservative movement. She has been working on this for 17 months in the White House, meeting with members of both parties. She has gained the approval of key voices, including Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
