Add this nugget to your Mike Pompeo tea-leaf reader: The secretary of state, who Mitch McConnell hopes will resign to run for the open Kansas Senate seat in 2020, plans to return to Kansas in early September to give a speech at Kansas State University, according to two sources familiar with the secretary's schedule.
Between the lines: Pompeo's recent activity suggests a 2020 Senate run is far from "ruled out," as the secretary declared it was in February. (In July, Pompeo updated his position, telling a Kansas City radio station that he will "always leave open the possibility that something will change.")
Go deeper: The Wall Street Journal's Lindsay Wise has a well-reported piece on the fevered speculation about Pompeo's political future.
Following a pair of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that left a total of 29 dead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wrote in a statement Sunday that "the Republican Senate must stop their outrageous obstruction" on gun violence legislation.
Why it matters: The Democratic-controlled House has passed two gun control measures this year that would strengthen background checks — the first gun control bills that Congress has considered in nearly 25 years. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) has refused to bring either to the Senate floor. Congress is currently on August recess, but a number of lawmakers have called for an emergency session to consider gun control legislation.
Several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates called for tighter gun control Saturday after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, blaming the National Rifle Association and President Trump following the latest massacre to rock the U.S.
Why it matters: The administration was under bipartisan criticism from lawmakers in recent weeks. Many claimed the administration had delayed "legally mandated action to follow up on sanctions imposed last August," the NYT reports.
President Trump's sudden decision to cashier his choice for director of national intelligence, Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas — five days after announcing the pick on Twitter — is a microcosm of how this White House works.
Catch up quick: First, months ago, Trump hears from conservative friends that Ratcliffe is a loyal guy — on Team Trump. Then Trump is blown away by Ratcliffe’s TV performance as he hammered Robert Mueller during his House hearings.
A gun shop's billboard in North Carolina labeling 4 progressive minority congresswomen "4 horsemen" and "idiots" is being taken down following backlash over the ad, CNN reports.
Why it matters: The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence notes in a Facebook post that threats against lawmakers, in particular minority Congress members, are increasing. Muslim Advocates tweeted that there are already multiple, credible assassination threats and attempts on the congresswomen targeted in the ad: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Ohio).
