President Trump tweeted this morning that he was glad his Chief of Staff John Kelly fired "that dog" Omarosa Manigault Newman, who released a tape this morning in which members of Trump's staff discussed how they might respond to rumors of him being recorded using a racial slur.
The big picture: This is not the first time Trump has invoked a "dog" metaphor to insult someone, but its direct use to attack a woman of color has prompted Twitter outrage and debate from prominent figures on both the right and left.
The Trump campaign has filed an arbitration action against former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman, citing a breach of her 2016 nondisclosure agreement after her release of multiple secret recordings of Trump administration and campaign officials, per The Washington Examiner.
There are a lot of interesting candidates to watch in tonight's primaries across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Vermont.
Why it matters: Even if all of these characters don't win their races, a look at who they are gives insights into some of the candidate trends we've seen in the 2018 cycle so far — like women candidates and others who would make history if elected.
Billions of dollars from teachers' pensions have been invested into private prisons that have detained captured undocumented immigrants near the southern border, according to a new report from The American Federation of Teachers.
Adapted from an American Fedration of Teachers report; Note: General Dynamics’s core business is not operating private prisons, but is included because it has contracts with migrant shelters; Table: Axios Visuals
President Trump escalated his continuing war of words with former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman on Tuesday, calling her a "dog" in a morning tweet.
"When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!"
The big picture: As one former senior White House official told Axios' Jonathan Swan over the weekend: "She may be the purest of all the Trump characters. ... She may be the most Trumpian. She knows media, she knows about physical presence, like Trump does...that's why I think he's rattled."
We've identified the five most competitive House races in the country, and they're all seats held by Republicans.
The races in Iowa, Florida, Texas, California and Maine — all considered true coin flips — will help determine whether Democrats will win control of the House in November, according to conversations with more than a dozen Republican and Democratic pollsters, strategists, analysts, and operatives.
Why it matters: The 2018 midterms battlefield is changing every week, and this list shows the uphill battle Republicans will face if they want to keep control. There are a lot of close races, but these ones are especially close, and some haven't gotten the attention that analysts say they deserve.
Eight out of 10 Americans say 3D-printed gun blueprints shouldn't be available on the internet — a rare consensus on gun policy that cuts across party and ideological lines, according to a new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll.
The big picture: The latest poll shows Americans are still more divided on other gun issues. A slight majority disapproves of President Trump's overall gun policies, and his approval rating on guns is similar to his overall job approval rating.
Turkey’s currency plunged to new depths today amid a standoff that has Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing the U.S. of sabotaging an ally.
Why it matters: Turkey was already bracing for economic turbulence, but President Trump’s decision to apply sanctions over the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson has accelerated the crisis, and provided Erdogan with a scapegoat. The dispute could also exacerbate another trend: Turkey’s drift away from the West.
Prosecutors working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller have rested their case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Monday after more than two weeks of presenting witnesses and evidence to illustrate how Manafort obtained millions of dollars offshore and avoided paying taxes.
The details: The special counsel had initially said the case would rest last Friday, and the court didn't say what caused the delay. However, this now means that the defense team will soon present its arguments. Manafort is facing the possibility of life in prison if convicted on 18 counts of tax evasion and back fraud. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
A June Supreme Court decision over how to give immigrants notice to appear in court for deportation proceedings has opened another big legal fight over how the Trump administration can enforce deportation orders, the AP's Amy Taxin reports.
Why it matters, per Axios' Stef Kight: Depending on how the Supreme Court's decision is interpreted, it could make it a lot harder for the government to deport undocumented immigrants who have been caught illegally in the country.
Three days after being fired from the FBI, "friends" of former agent Peter Strzok launched a GoFundMe account seeking $150,000 to offset "Pete’s hefty – and growing – legal costs and his lost income." The account raised more than $35,000 in the first five hours.
Flashback: This is reminiscent of similar moves made by supporters or friends of other high profile officials facing mounting legal bills after being fired from the Trump administration. The family of former national security advisor Michael Flynn's family set up a legal defense fund last year to help pay for his "enormous expenses," and a GoFundMe page was launched following Trump's firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in March.
Tom Steyer is going to spend $10 million — on top of his planned $110 million — to help Democrats win the House by turning out voters who support the idea of impeaching President Trump, Bloomberg reports.
Why it matters: Steyer is investing more money into helping Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm elections than any other individual in Democratic politics.
Judge Dabney Friedrich, appointed by President Trump to the U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C., ruled Monday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia is constitutional, reports Politico.
Why it matters: This is the fourth federal judge to strike down efforts to invalidate Mueller's probe. The latest appeal was leveled by Russian company Concord Management, which was indicted for funding the social media "troll farm" known as the Internet Research Agency.
FBI agent Peter Strzok was fired from the bureau on Friday due to his anti-Trump texts between him and his then-colleague Lisa Page leading up to the 2016 presidential election even though, according to Strzok's lawyer, the FBI's disciplinary office only recommended a demotion and suspension, The Washington Post reports.
The big picture: Strzok worked briefly on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as well as the Hillary Clinton email server investigation. When his texts were originally unearthed, Strzok was kicked off of Mueller's team and demoted, but remained an FBI employee. The texts have given the president and his allies ammunition in their attacks against the credibility of the FBI.
The Space Force has caused its first collateral damage, exacerbating tensions between the White House and Trump’s re-election campaign.
What happened: Multiple sources tell me White House officials were surprised when, shortly after the vice president gave a sober speech announcing Trump administration plans to develop a Space Force, the campaign blasted out an email fundraising off the idea.
Former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman released another alleged secret recording — that she claims took place one day after her firing by Chief of Staff John Kelly — of a phone call with President Trump, who seems unaware of her departure from the administration. She shared the clip exclusively Monday morning on NBC's "Today."
Donald Trump Jr., 40, the president's oldest son, is poised to be a key player this fall in a strategy aimed at galvanizing the president’s most ardent supporters, the WashPost's Ashley Parker and Phil Rucker write on A1:
The big picture: "In a normal Republican universe ... a guy like Don Jr. ... would be very problematical," says Republican strategist Mike Murphy. "But in the new Trump universe, with different laws of gravity, every campaign is seen as just a big Republican primary."
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