Axios

A day after the Departments of Justice and Commerce announced the 2020 Census would not ask respondents about their citizenship, the DOJ stated that it was instructed by President Trump to continue looking for a way to include it on the survey.

State of play: The Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration cannot add the controversial question to the 2020 Census unless it does a better job of explaining why that question is necessary. However, Trump tweeted Wednesday that the administration is "absolutely moving forward" with plans to include the question.

A military jury sentenced Navy veteran and SEAL platoon leader Edward Gallagher to a rank reduction Wednesday for posing with the corpse of a 17-year-old ISIS militant, according to NPR. Gallagher had been cleared of first-degree murder and war crimes on Tuesday.

Why it matters: The case had drawn waves of onlookers, including President Trump, who came to Gallagher's defense throughout the trial and considered pardoning him. The rank reduction will affect Gallagher's salary and pension.

Former Vice President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign said Wednesday that it raised $21.5 million during the second quarter of 2019 from over 256,000 donors.

The big picture: Biden's haul falls solidly in the middle of the Democratic heavy-hitters for this cycle who have announced their second-quarter totals so far — behind Mayor Pete Buttigieg's $24.8 million and ahead of Bernie Sanders' $18 million. However, Biden only jumped into the race in the middle of the quarter on April 25.

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet's 2020 presidential campaign said it raised $2.8 million during the second quarter of 2019, reports Politico.

Why it matters: Bennet's haul is far behind the Democratic heavy-hitters who have announced their second-quarter totals — Sen. Bernie Sanders raised $18 million and Mayor Pete Buttigieg pulled in $24.8 million. However, it's worth noting that Bennet announced his candidacy on May 2, meaning he lost a full month of second-quarter fundraising, and still managed to beat the Q1 totals of other rivals, like Julián Castro and fellow Coloradan John Hickenlooper.

Go deeper: Michael Bennet on the issues, in under 500 words

2020 Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg announced a plan Wednesday to create new national service programs that would have a network of 1 million members by 2026.

Details: The South Bend, Ind., mayor's "A New Call to Service" would create a Climate Corps, a Community Health Corps to target mental health and addiction, and an Intergenerational Service Corps to provide care for U.S. seniors. It would also fund existing federal and AmeriCorps organizations and increase their amount of available positions to 250,000.

A federal judge in Seattle blocked Tuesday a Trump administration policy denying bond hearings to migrants seeking asylum, ruling it "unconstitutional" to do so while they pursue their cases.

Why it matters: In April, Attorney General William Barr issued the order preventing immigration judges from granting bail to asylum-seekers, aligning with President Trump's vow to end "catch and release" at the southern border. An immigration lawyer told Axios in April that it represented an effort by the administration to get the Supreme Court to establish what rights migrants who cross the border actually have.

The Trump administration has decided to print the 2020 Census without a citizenship question, the Justice Department confirmed to BuzzFeed and CNN on Tuesday.

Why it matters: President Trump was weighing a delay to the 2020 census less than 24 hours ago, as he considered ways to challenge a Supreme Court ruling that temporarily blocked the citizenship question. Experts say the question would have led to a less accurate census and consequently skewed the makeup of the House — thereby depriving cities with large numbers of minorities of federal funding, Axios' Sam Baker writes.

Border agents confiscated Congressional Hispanic Caucus members' phones as they visited migrant facilities in Texas, according to the lawmakers. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) shared video on Twitter Tuesday that he secretly filmed inside one center.

Why it matters: Castro's video offers a glimpse into life inside the centers, which are often off limits to journalists. As the Washington Post points out, the Democratic lawmakers' experience raises questions about why elected government officials aren't permitted to have phones inside the facilities, but Customs and Border Patrol agents are.

Bernie Sanders captured more online conversation than any other candidate last week following his proposal to wipe out $1.6 trillion in student debt, according to data from NewsWhip exclusively provided to Axios as part of a project that will regularly update throughout the 2020 campaign.

Why it matters: It shows that the topics that got outsized media attention weren't the ones that animated people the most. Articles about Sanders generated 5.7 million interactions on Facebook and Twitter over the last week, 64% more than those about Biden, the candidate with the second-most interactions.

The article below was originally published on June 26.

Joe Biden is dominating the 2020 Democratic field in online attention, showing the extent to which the race is being molded by the current frontrunner while other candidates are defining themselves in relation to him.

What's going on: Articles about Biden are generating far more social media interactions (43.5 million) than any other 2020 Democrat over the last 10 weeks, according to data from Newswhip exclusively provided to Axios as part of a project that will regularly update throughout the 2020 campaign.

The Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General (OIG) discovered extreme overcrowding, prolonged detention stays and health risks at several Border Patrol stations in the Rio Grande Valley sector in south Texas, according to a newly released report.

Why it matters: An official at one of the Border Patrol stations told the OIG that the situation was a "ticking time bomb." The report points out that it is Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) job to hold migrants for the long term — not Border Patrol's, but ICE is struggling to provide space for the surge of migrants.

2020 Democratic candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) released a new immigration plan that focuses on closing down substandard detention facilities and expanding legal rights for undocumented migrants.

The big picture: Booker plans to use executive orders to overhaul the immigration system — the same way President Trump enacted many of his own immigration policies.

Protesters have obtained permission to fly a Trump baby blimp over the National Mall during President Trump's controversial Fourth of July celebration, according to NBC 4 Washington's Mark Segraves.

What's happening: The blimp, which has become a staple at demonstrations in opposition of Trump, received a permit from the National Mall's National Park Service to fly from 4am to 9pm. During that time, Trump is slated to host an elaborate "Salute to America" celebration, including aircraft demonstrations, rollouts of U.S. Army tanks, a VIP section and a speech from the president himself.

A new study found a correlation between retweets of known Russian troll accounts during the 2016 election and Donald Trump's poll numbers.

Why it matters: The study, conducted by a team headed at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and published in the peer-reviewed University of Illinois-Chicago journal "First Monday," suggests that — despite protests to the contrary by Republicans and Trump allies — the Russian disinformation campaign was successful in influencing the 2016 election.

2020 Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that his campaign brought in $18 million from "nearly 1 million donors" during the second quarter of 2019.

Why it matters: Sanders is relying on the power of small donors to fund his campaign. He's been able to do so after developing an extensive network of supporters following his high-profile 2016 presidential run.

President Trump's consistent attacks on the free press and access to information, mostly through social media, have forced judges to re-evaluate the rules of political communications in the digital era.

Why it matters: Some of these actions have led to historic legal cases or set new precedents that could create stronger protections in the long term.

Story Syndicate, a new production company founded by veteran filmmakers Liz Garbus and Dan Cogan, is creating a documentary on Mayor Pete Buttigieg, according to sources with knowledge of the film.

Why it matters: Buttigieg becomes the latest millennial politician to turn to docs to define his legacy as an unlikely political challenger. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has both gotten involved with documentaries about their rise to political stardom.

President Trump's 2020 campaign and the RNC pulled in a combined $105 million fundraising haul during 2019's second quarter, reports the New York Times.

Why it matters: The huge amount is "a testament to the more professional operation that [Trump's] campaign has been running" for this cycle, writes the Times, which notes that the president used personal money to supplement his 2016 campaign.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" Monday President Trump's historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was "reality show foreign policy." 

This was one of the worst few days in American foreign policy and American diplomatic history in a long time."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) documented in a series of tweets what she described as "horrifying" conditions inside a Texas migrant detention center at a Border Patrol station she visited Monday.

President Trump told reporters Monday he's still looking at delaying the 2020 census, after a Supreme Court decision last week temporarily blocked his administration from adding a citizenship question to it, CNN and Politico report.

"I think it is very important to find out if somebody is a citizen as opposed to an illegal. It is a big difference to me between being a citizen of the United States and being an illegal."

President Trump told reporters on Monday that U.S. Army tanks will be present on the National Mall during the July 4 celebrations in Washington, D.C., this week.

The big picture: They're part of Trump's plans for the "Salute to America" event to honor the U.S. military, per AP. There will also be flyovers by Air Force One and the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels jet squadron. Trump will deliver a speech at the Lincoln Memorial, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: The national July 4 celebration is often seen as a nonpartisan event, but Trump has inserted himself into the event, Axios' Rashaan Ayesh notes.

Go deeper: On the Fourth of July, here are reasons to love the U.S.