Trump is obsessed with the FBI building. For months now, in meetings with White House officials and Senate appropriators intended to discuss big-picture spending priorities, the president rants about the graceless J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington, D.C.
Behind the scenes: In the midst of one rant about the FBI, he lit into the building. "Even the building is terrible," he observed to an Axios source. "It's one of the brutalist-type buildings, you know, brutalist architecture. Honestly, I think it's one of the ugliest buildings in the city."
Construction at Trump International Golf Links in Balmedie, Scotland, has done considerable damage to a protected system of dunes since the course opened in 2012, reports The Guardian.
The big picture: The report is based on documents obtained by LSE's Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environmentvia an open records request, which show the area may lose its status as a "site of special scientific interest." In order to gain approval for construction, President Trump promised in 2008 to protect the site as much as possible and claimed the land would be "environmentally enhanced and better than it was before.”
With the midterms 100 days from today, control of Congress — much like everything in politics, media and culture these days — will come down one thing: Trump.
The big questions: Can Democrats turn Trump venting into anti-Trump voting? And does the Trump bag of tricks — bashing immigration, the media, witch hunts and the MS-13 gang — work for local Republicans, who'll need Trump-like turnout?
President Trump tweeted Sunday morning that he is "willing to 'shut down'" the government this fall if congressional Democrats don't help to pass his preferred immigration reform.
"I would be willing to 'shut down' government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!"
The big picture: I must confess to being surprised by Trump’s tweet — even if he’s made and bailed on such threats in the past. As recently as a month ago, senior White House officials with direct knowledge of the president’s private conversations told me they were convinced he’d been persuaded that it was not in his political interests to shut down the government a month before the midterm elections.
The Democratic National Committee has reached 30 million voters and acquired 94 million cell phone numbers of registered voters ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, according to an internal document.
Why it matters: There are only 100 days until the election. Reaching voters where they are —on cell phones, not landlines — and connecting with new voters will be crucial to Democrats' efforts in November and looking ahead to the 2020 presidential election.
Police reports and call logs relating to U.S. immigrant youth shelters examined by Pro Publica reveal "hundreds of allegations of sexual offenses, fights and missing children."
The big picture: Pro Publica reports that in the last five years, at least 125 reports of sex offenses have prompted a police response. There have been an additional 200 similar calls from other shelters, but they don't clarify if the reports are related to unaccompanied immigrants specifically.
Think back to the wild conspiracy theories that once floated through your head, or the minds of friends and critics of President Trump: collusion with Russia ... Hidden hush money ... Shady business dealings that only insiders like fixer Michael Cohen knew of — and they'd never tell.
The big picture: Trump has done almost nothing to dispel these theories since taking office.
