Ex-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Saturday at a Washington Examiner panel discussion that before he left his position last year, he cautioned President Trump not to hire "a yes man" as his replacement or he'd risk impeachment.
What they're saying: Trump responded to Kelly's comments later on Saturday, saying: "John Kelly never said that, he never said anything like that. If he would have said that I would have thrown him out of office. He just wants to come back into the action like everybody else does," per CNN.
The Census Bureau is working directly with major tech platforms like Google, Twitter and Facebook to inform people "about the mechanics of the census and to stamp out inaccurate information that’s swirling around" on the 2020 count, AP reports.
Why it matters: This is the first time that census officials have declared such an active battle against misinformation, per AP — and already false social media posts on the 2020 census have surfaced online and attracted thousands of views.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Saturday recollected President Trump's recent characterization of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry as a “lynching," at 2019 Second Step Presidential Justice Forum at Benedict College, a historically black college.
What she's saying: "What do we have in Donald Trump? Someone who dares — dares — to use the word 'lynching' with the blood that has been poured on the soil of South Carolina and so many place. And dares to talk about his victimization and compare it to those who have suffered in a criminal justice system in America that has too often been informed by racial bias and by injustice. And he dares to compare himself to the people who have been at the wrong end of a system that is in need of reform."
CertiPath, a computer security company in which President Trump's brother holds a financial stake, was awarded a $33 million contract with the U.S. Marshals Service earlier this year, the Washington Post reports.
Driving the news: Two companies that competed for the same bid — one anonymous, the other NMR Consulting — have filed complaints with the Government Accountability Office and the Justice Department's inspector general. The anonymous firm argued that CertiPath should have disclosed that “one of the President’s closest living relatives stood to benefit financially from the transaction," per the Post.
Rep. Elijah Cummings was born the son of a sharecropper, and died a leader of such regard that presidents delivered eulogies at his funeral.
The impact: In Baltimore, politicians and civil rights activists joined family and friends on Friday to honor the late congressman, who became the first African-American lawmaker to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. He died last week at the age of 68.
President Trump singled out Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Twitter Saturday morning, saying she cancelled her planned appearance at an event in South Carolina because he received an award for his criminal justice reform legislation.
A second internal memo on White House cybersecurity, obtained by Axios, reveals new details about how IT officials inside the Trump administration were dispatched to investigate leaks embarrassing to President Trump.
Where it stands: The memo, dated June 1, has surfaced only now amid controversy over a different memo explaining the concerns surrounding an exodus of cybersecurity staff brought in under the Obama administration to protect the White House from Russian hacking.
The Trump Organization is considering selling the rights to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., reports the Wall Street Journal.
The big picture: Eric Trump, President Trump's son and an executive vice president of the family business, told the WSJ that the move is in part fueled by criticism surrounding the family profiting from the property during Trump's presidency.
The U.S. Treasury is reporting a 26% increase from the 2018 budget deficit to $984 billion for the fiscal year 2019, the highest it's been in 7 years, the AP reports.
Why it matters: Revenue dropped thanks to the 2017 tax cut and the federal budget that tacked on billions of dollars in spending for the military and other programs, serving as a contrast from President Trump's campaign promises to cut wasteful spending.
A statement penned by the Department of Justice inspector general condemning the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel for its failure to turn over the Ukraine whistleblower complaint to Congress, has received the support of dozens of watchdogs from across the federal government.
Why it matters: The concern surrounds the OLC opinion from Sept. 24 in response to the whistleblower's complaint to the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, which the Trump administration attempted to keep hidden. "The OLC opinion, if not withdrawn or modified, could seriously undermine the critical role whistleblowers play in coming forward to report waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct across the federal government," the independent IGs concluded.
Democratic megadonor George Soros told the New York Times that he believes Elizabeth Warren is the "most qualified" candidate for the presidency in 2020 — though he stopped short of an outright endorsement.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) announced early Friday that she will not seek re-election to Congress in 2020 in order to focus on her presidential campaign.
"I'm fully committed to my offer to serve you, the people of Hawaii & America, as your President & Commander-in-Chief. So I will not be seeking reelection to Congress in 2020. I humbly ask for your support for my candidacy for President of the United States."
The number of children separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by U.S. immigration authorities since July 2017 is now 5,460, according to ACLU data reported by AP.
Why it matters: Obtaining a comprehensive count of the children separated at the border was a difficult task because of poor government accounting, especially in the earliest days of the family separation policy. The government has also struggled to properly keep track of parents in order to be able to reunite them with their children.
Top Trump officials have quietly created a de facto impeachment war room, with a chief goal of policing and solidifying Republican Senate support for acquittal.
What's happening: Most senior officials in the White House recognized quickly that the G7 and Syria decisions harmed the president's standing with Senate Republicans, and realized that could bleed over and cause problems for their impeachment firewall.
