The State Department is denying U.S. citizens who live near the border with Mexico and have lived in the country for decades of passports, raising questions about residents' citizenship, reports The Washington Post.
The big picture: The State Department has cracked down on issuing passports amid the Trump administration's accusations that possibly thousands of Hispanic citizens along the southern border have been using fake birth certificates their whole lives.
President Trump continued his Twitter campaign against Google Wednesday evening, posting a video that shows Google home pages promoting several of former President Obama's State of the Union addresses, but not the two Trump has so far delivered.
Why it matters: Although promotions on the Google home page are not, strictly speaking, search results at all, this is the first concrete evidence the president has offered in his repeated charges that Google's results are biased against conservatives.
President Trump told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that Google, Twitter, and Facebook are "trying to silence a very large part of the country," saying they treat conservatives and Republicans very unfairly.
Why it matters: The dig comes one day after Trump tweeted similar criticism claiming the tech giants suppress conservative voices and news. When asked Wednesday whether he would want to further regulate the companies Trump said, "We're just going to see. You know what we want? Not regulation, we want fairness."
The late Sen. John McCain laid in state in Arizona's State Capitol Rotunda in Phoenix Wednesday on what would have been his 82nd birthday. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Sen. Jeff Flake, and former Sen. Jon Kyl all spoke during the service.
Picturing an Arizona without McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon. It’s just not natural.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, replied to President Trump's Twitter confirmation of Axios' report that White House counsel Don McGahn would leave the West Wing: "I hope it's not true....U can't let that happen."
The big picture: Grassley's office told Axios that he "has admired" McGahn's work at the White House and believes "there’s not been any White House Counsel who has worked so well and so efficiently with the chairman’s office and the Senate Judiciary Committee on judges."
Our thought bubble: It's a little premature, given that the rest of the Senate hasn't agreed to the name change. And the display might not last long. Google Maps lets users suggest labels for notable locations, and sometimes users play pranks to make a point, but they rarely leave a permanent mark.
French President Emmanuel Macron responded to attacks Wednesday from Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the right-wing, populist leaders who met Tuesday to discuss a migration plan to present to the EU, reports Bloomberg.
"I won’t retreat in front of the nationalists and those preaching hatred. If they want to see me as their main opponent, they’re right."
— Emmanuel Macron
The big picture: Salvini attacks Macron almost on a daily basis because of his inclusive stance on migration, per Politico, which has become a source of strife between the EU establishment and populist governments all over Europe. In his meeting with Orbán, Salvini confirmed that he is seeking to form a populist alliance with the Hungarian leader ahead of the 2019 European parliamentary elections.
Speaking to Christian leaders Monday evening, President Trump said he revoked a law prohibiting charities and churches from giving formal political endorsements, NBC News reports citing recorded excerpts.
"Now one of the things I'm most proud of is getting rid of the Johnson Amendment... That was a disaster for you."
— President Trump to Christian leaders
Why it matters: Despite Congress' attempts to rid the law, per NBC, it remains in effect. Trump warned the Christian leaders they were "one election away from losing everything" they have as conservative Christians, and warned that their opponents were "violent people."
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.
