CNN is standing by its story that Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney, claimed he was willing to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump knew about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between campaign officials and the Russians.
Why it matters: Lanny Davis, Cohen's attorney, admitted he was one of CNN's anonymous sources for the story, but backed off his original claim instead saying Cohen does not know if Trump knew about the meeting.A CNN spokeswoman said the story, which CNN first reported in July, had "more than one source" and the organization remained confident in its reporting despite Davis' flip.
Defense Secretary James Mattis suggested Tuesday at a wide-ranging press conference that the U.S. could resume military exercises with South Korea going forward, after President Trump announced a suspension of large scale exercises following his summit with Kim Jong-un.
Why it matters: Trump called the exercises "provocative" in June and said they would be halted "unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should," but there are now signs the administration is getting frustrated by the lack of progress. Last Friday, Trump directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel his upcoming trip to North Korea, saying the country was not "making sufficient progress with respect to denuclearization."
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán Tuesday to discuss a migration plan the two immigration hardliners can present to the European Union, reports The Guardian.
Why it matters: The meeting followed an intense weekend standoff in which Salvini, who also serves as Italy's interior minister, refused to let more than 150 migrants disembark a rescue ship unless the EU agreed to distribute them across other countries. He's now facing potential charges for abuse of office, kidnapping, and illegal arrest. Salvini's meeting with the virulently anti-immigrant Orbán — whom he has called his political role model — indicates that Italy and its populist government have no intention of yielding to the EU's migration demands.
The big picture: These woes could result in a decrease in discretionary spending on social service programs that benefit refugees. It could, for example, slow efforts to get Syrians into primary school and vocational training programs. That said, the crisis may not make as substantial a difference in practice to these endeavors as some fear.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin praised Fed Chair Jerome Powell in an interview with CNBC: “I think he understands the issue of growth and he's carefully monitoring the growth numbers and the inflation numbers.”
Why it matters: Mnuchin’s comments contrast with those of President Trump, who said last week he was not “thrilled” with Powell and criticized the Fed for raising interest rates.
Republicans have wasted no time in trying to make vulnerable Senate Democrats pay a price for voting last week against an amendment defunding Planned Parenthood.
Why it matters: No Democrats voted for it, including those in red states defending their seats. These Democrats need to win over independent or Republican voters to keep their seats, and thus need to be more conservative than the rest of their party. Tying them to liberal groups and the left wing of their party is one way the GOP is trying to deny them these votes.
More than two thirds of individual contributions to 2018 House candidates came from donors outside of the candidates' districts, and Democrats are out-raising Republicans, according to an Axios analysis of Federal Elections Commission data.
Why it matters: Maybe all politics is national, not local. Americans on both sides of the aisle know that money influences politics. Yet donating to a candidate you can't vote for doesn't always result in a win.
Almost two thirds of Americans believe Michael Cohen's claim that President Trump ordered him to make illegal payments to two women to keep them quiet about his affairs — but less than half of Americans believe Congress should start impeachment proceedings, according to a new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll.
Why it matters: Republicans believe it's those payments, which would have violated campaign finance law, that put Trump in the greatest danger of impeachment if Democrats win the House in November. The poll shows that the majority of Americans, including about half of independents, aren't ready for that.
A bipartisan group of congressional members are seeking immediate action and an oversight hearing to address concerns that the Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to take responsibility for veterans suffering from military sexual trauma in recent years.
The details: An investigation conducted by the VA's inspector general found that the agency "improperly denied hundreds of military sexual trauma claims," refused to order medical exams in the majority of the cases, and re-routed claims to staff with no "specialized knowledge" on how to handle them. Eleven lawmakers signed an open letter urging Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), who heads the Veterans Affairs Committee, to hold a hearing on the matter. Another 12 lawmakers have also sent a letter to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie urging him to reprocess denied cases.
Prior to his conviction last week, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort's legal defense team discussed a potential plea deal with prosecutors in the hopes of avoiding a second trial, but the negotiations failed, the Wall Street Journal's Aruna Viswanatha reports.
Why it matters: President Trump praised Manafort following his guilty verdict, calling him a "brave man" for not caving into pressure to make a deal — unlike Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to his charges.
President Trump issued a statement Monday saying he "respect[s] Senator John McCain’s service to our country" and has ordered the White House to fly its flag at half-staff until the day of the senator's interment.
The backdrop: The official statement comes after Trump received criticism for having refused to issue a traditional White House statement honoring McCain, telling his press staff that he preferred to tweet instead. The White House also received backlash for having raised its flag to full staff Monday morning.
Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday from brain cancer, wrote a farewell letter to his fellow Americans before his death, in which he expressed hope that the country will find its way "through these challenging times" and concludes that "Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history."
The letter was delivered and read aloud Monday by McCain's friend and former aide, Rick Davis.
Seth Frotman, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official in charge of overseeing the $1.5 trillion student loan market, has stepped down, saying the White House has made it difficult to protect the millions of students who have taken out loans for their higher education, the AP reports.
Key quote: “You have used the bureau to serve the wishes of the most powerful financial companies in America. The damage you have done to the bureau betrays these families and sacrifices the financial futures of millions of Americans in communities across the country,” Frotman wrote in a letter to the Trump's budget director, Mick Mulvaney, who took over the CFPB in November.
Here's one reason Republicans are feeling better about the Montana Senate race: a new internal poll for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) shows Republican candidate Matt Rosendale leading Democratic Sen. Jon Tester by two points.
Why it matters: While this poll doesn't mean Democrats are certain to lose, they can't afford to give up this Senate seat in November. Montana's Senate seat is one of 10 Democrats are defending in states Trump won in 2016.
President Trump’s run of big, unorthodox bets — ranging from negotiating with a nuclear madman in North Korea to depending on friends who turned out to be "flippers" — is looking riskier and less winnable by the day.
The big picture: Consider his wildest bets — from engaging with North Korea to his ongoing trade war with China — allmade largely against the advice of advisers and most GOP leaders.
The schedule of events — from Phoenix, Ariz., to Washington, D.C. — that will celebrate the life of the late Sen. John McCain this week is beginning to come together.
The big thing: McCain will become just the 31st person to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda since 1852 — one of the greatest honors available to an American statesman.
