Search warrants made public Thursday show that the FBI believed then-candidate Donald Trump spoke with his attorney Michael Cohen and aide Hope Hicks during the 2016 campaign about silencing news stories related to his alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Why it matters: The Southern District of New York's investigation into hush money payments, which has now concluded, resulted in Cohen being sentenced to prison for three years for campaign finance violations. Trump — who was previously referred to in court documents as "Individual 1" — has denied allegations of his involvement in the scheme.
President Trump has directed his administration to work to have rapper A$AP Rocky freed from custody in Sweden after Kim Kardashian West contacted White House adviser Jared Kushner about the issue, as first reported by TMZ.
The state of play: A person familiar with the situation told me the TMZ story is accurate and that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has taken the lead to work on Rocky's detention.
The single biggest threat to Republicans' long-term viability is demographics.
The big picture: The numbers simply do not lie. America, as a whole, and swing states, in particular, are growing more diverse, more quickly. There is no way Republicans can change birth rates or curb this trend — and there's not a single demographic megatrend that favors Republicans.
The Trump administration is sending more than 2,100 additional troops to the southern border, the Pentagon said in a statement Wednesday.
The big picture: 1,000 Texas National Guard and 1,100 active duty troops will be sent to the border, as President Trump's rule requiring immigrants to seek refuge in a 3rd country before applying for asylum in the U.S. comes into effect. The troops will join about 4,500 active duty and National Guard troops already at the border, per Reuters.
Trump supporters chanted "send her back" at a re-election rally on Wednesday, after President Trump listed his grievances with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)
The big picture: The House voted 240-187 yesterday to condemn Trump's racist tweets against the 4 Democratic congresswomen of color, all of whom are American citizens. In his tweets, Trump said the congresswomen should "go back" to where they came from.
The Democratic National Committee warned 2020 presidential campaigns that they should not use the viral facial-altering FaceApp because it was developed in Russia, CNN reports.
Our thought bubble, via Axios' Ina Fried: Lots of apps have access to your photos. However, since FaceApp is not based in the U.S., it could be harder to track what is eventually done with the images and harder to potentially sue later for misuse. And anything Russia-related raises additional alarm bells given that country’s efforts to interfere with U.S. elections.
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) was hospitalized in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night after fracturing 4 ribs in a fall in his apartment, his spokesperson said.
Details: Amanda Maddox said in a statement he was being treated in George Washington University Hospital. "He is in pain, but resting and doing well," she said. "Senator Isakson looks forward to fully recovering and getting back to work for Georgians."
The big picture: This vote to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump was expected to fail. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made her anti-impeachment stance clear. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y) voted to keep Green's impeachment resolution, instead of killing it — because he "supports following proper [procedure] referring the resolution to the Judiciary Committee," CNN's Manu Raju reports.
Why it matters: Democrats believe the administration's reason for attempting to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census is "a cover for a politically motivated attempt to eliminate noncitizens from population statistics ... [thereby] diminishing Democratic power," the NYT reports. Wednesday's vote follows a House Oversight Committee decision last month.
The Democratic National Committee released on Wednesday the names of the 20 presidential candidates who have qualified for the second round of debates scheduled for July 30-31 in Detroit.
The big picture: It's only going get more challenging for candidates to meet debate requirements moving forward. In September, the requirements for candidates will double. The Democrats' massive 2020 field has put pressure on the DNC to focus its primary on those who can really challenge President Trump.
July 15 at midnight was the deadline for 2020 presidential candidates to upload their fundraising disclosures for the second quarter of 2019 to the Federal Election Commission.
Data: FEC; Note: Receipts by Trump’s joint fundraising committees not included; Chart: Harry Stevens/Axios
Dan and Axios CEO Jim VandeHei discuss whether Trump's inflammatory tweets were premeditated or spontaneous, and what it portends for the rest of his presidential campaign.
Various lower-tier candidates are leading the 2020 race in one way: they've raised most of their money from small-dollar donors.
Why it matters: Fundraising as a whole can be a proxy for voter enthusiasm. But especially small donations, which Democrats have been fighting to get from regular people who want to give their money to campaigns — and mostly online.
Unlike their reluctance on impeachment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Democratic leadership were eager to make a public spectacle of President Trump's racist comments.
What happened: In a blistering floor speech, Pelosi described Trump's tweets as "disgraceful," "disgusting," and "racist," prompting Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins to demand her words be "taken down."
It might seem like improvisational madness when President Trump tells American citizens in Congress to "go back" where they came from, but those close to Trump say there's a lot of calculation behind his race-baiting.
Why it matters: It’s central to his 2020 strategy, they say. Trump's associates predict more, not less, of the race-baiting madness.
The 4 progressive Democrats targeted by President Trump dismissed him as a "bully" over his racist tweets and revealed they're willing to resolve differences with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in an interview broadcast on "CBS This Morning" Wednesday.
Details: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley recorded their first interview addressing Trump's Twitter attacks just before the House condemned him for racism. While they didn't hold back in their criticism of Trump or Republicans, they were more conciliatory toward Pelosi.
President Trump said it's "great to see" Republican Party unity after 4 GOP lawmakers sided with House Democrats in a 240-187 vote to condemn him Tuesday for racist tweets against 4 Democratic congresswomen of color.
Details: In his Tuesday night tweets, Trump claimed the quartet said "horrible things" about the U.S., Israel, and "much more." He also tweeted that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been ruled (initially) "out of order" for calling him "racist" for his "go back" tweets about Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib.
Never Again Action, a Jewish activist organization formed last month, led a protest of hundreds on Tuesday that closed ICE's headquarters in Washington, D.C., for several hours, NBC reports.
Why it matters: Religion is fueling a new wave of immigration activism. Clergy members rallied for immigrants from their pulpits over the weekend, offering sanctuary as ICE carried out a small number of raids on undocumented migrant families. Never Again Action, which has organized over 1,000 protestors at more than 10 events this summer, is led by mostly young Jews.
