The Trump administration has reunified 1,442 of the original 2,551 migrant children between the ages of five and 17 with their parents by the court-ordered deadline of today, according to the latest court filing.
Of the 103 migrant children under five, all eligible children have been reunited with their families, leaving 47 who have been deemed ineligible. The chart below displays what we know about where the children are, based on the latest court filings from the Justice Department:
Data: Joint Status Reports from U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, Ms. L vs. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Chart: Harry Stevens/Axios
President Trump is now threatening to investigate Twitter for allegedly silencing conservatives, tweeting today:
"Twitter 'SHADOW BANNING' prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints."
The big picture: High-profile conservatives have complained for years that their videos are made ineligible for advertising on YouTube, their accounts or tweets are minimized on Twitter, and their posts are removed on Facebook.
President Trump's "deal" with the EU on trade is more a fragile ceasefire — no significant territory was gained or lost, no white flags have been raised, and the president's trigger finger remains itchy. Crucially, though, the guns have gone silent.
Why it matters: Looming over the White House meeting yesterday between Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was Trump’s threat of a 20% levy on auto imports that would hit EU countries like Germany (and U.S. consumers) hard, and could lead to a full-scale trade war. That threat is now on hold while the sides negotiate.
Sen. Claire McCaskill’s team was targeted with spear phishing attempt from Russia’s intelligence unit around August 2017, according to The Daily Beast. Sen. McCaskill claims the attack wasn't successful, according to her statement on the attempt.
Why it matters: This is the first publicly identified target of the cyber attacks Moscow has launched in the buildup to the 2018 midterms. McCaskill is a vulnerable Democrat running for reelection in Missouri, a state where President Trump beat out Hillary Clinton in 2016 by almost 20 points.
President Trump misled a roundtable at an Iowa community college today, telling them "we just opened up Europe for you farmers," when in reality his Wednesday deal with the European Union doesn't come close to fulfilling such an extraordinary claim.
Why it matters: Aside from the EU agreeing to purchase more soybeans, agriculture is not covered by yesterday's deal. The EU insisted farm goods be excluded so only "non-auto industrial goods" are part of the negotiation towards zero tariffs and zero subsidies.
Allan Weisselberg, the executive Vice President and chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, has been subpoenaed in the Michael Cohen probe, the WSJ reports.
Why it matters: Weisselberg has been serving in that role for decades and has oversaw the most intimate matters of the organization and the Trumps’ finances, including President Trump’s personal finances. He has been linked to the payments made to the two former Playboy models who claim they had sexual encounters with the president, which raises questions about whether campaign finance laws have been violated.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said Thursday that he agrees the Justice Department should comply with congressional requests for information related to the Russia investigation, but that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's slow-walking of documents does not warrant impeachment, Politico reports.
“I don’t think we should be cavalier with this process or this term. Number two, I don't think this rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors, which is a really high standard."
— Speaker Paul Ryan
Why it matters: This comes a day after GOP lawmakers, led by Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Mark Meadows, introduced articles of impeachment against Rosenstein.
Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), founder of the House Freedom Caucus, has just sent a letter to his colleagues announcing that he is officially running to replace Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House, Axios has confirmed. The Daily Caller's Robert Donachie was the first to report the news.
The state of play: Several leaders of the conservative movement called on Jordan to announce his candidacy in May, arguing that House Republican leadership "has utterly failed" and "proven that it’s part of the Swamp," and that Jordan is the solution.
The government has more than 100 recordings made by Michael Cohen, The Washington Post reports, of conversations featuring "matters that could relate to Trump and his businesses and with Trump himself talking."
Why it matters: A Cohen recording leaked to CNN on Tuesday illustrated the strain between Cohen and President Trump. As Axios' Jonathan Swan reported, the "leaking of the tape is, in some ways, more important than the contents of the tape itself. ... Cohen has totally turned against Trump."
