House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said on Wednesday he plans to discuss "next steps" with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats in light of new allegations in former national security adviser John Bolton's book about President Trump's misconduct in his dealings with foreign leaders.
Driving the news: Bolton writes in his upcoming memoir that House Democrats committed "impeachment malpractice" by not expanding their investigation beyond the Ukraine scandal to include other actions Trump allegedly took to solicit election help from foreign leaders.
Former national security adviser John Bolton said in an excerpt of an upcoming interview with ABC's "This Week" Wednesday that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks he can play President Trump "like a fiddle," adding: "I think he sees that he's not faced with a serious adversary here."
Why it matters: This is the first on-camera interview that features Bolton since explosive excerpts from his tell-all memoir were published on Wednesday. Bolton alleges — among other things — that Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help with his re-election.
U.S. taxpayers have funded more than half a trillion dollars in federal bailouts to small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but the White House is fighting disclosure of who got what.
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) joins the Axios Re:Cap podcast to discuss why she and many colleagues are pushing for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to reverse course.
Early details are here from the John Bolton book that President Trump's legal threats are sending to the top of the bestseller lists.
The big picture: Bolton claims Trump asked China to help him win in 2020. He also throws his former colleagues under the bus and taunts Democrats for committing “impeachment malpractice.”
The Fulton County district attorney announced at a press conference on Wednesday that former officer Garrett Rolfe, who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta last week, will be charged with 11 counts, including felony murder and aggravated assault.
The big picture: Rolfe fatally shot Brooks in a Wendy's parking lot after a struggle, setting off another wave of protests that had taken place since the killing of George Floyd. Officer Devin Brosnan, who was also present during the incident, faces three charges, including aggravated assault.
Former national security adviser John Bolton alleges in his upcoming book that President Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to increase agricultural purchases from the U.S. in order to improve his electoral prospects in farm states, the New York Times and Washington Post report, citing advance copies of the book.
The big picture: The book, which the Trump administration is suing Bolton to block, alleges several episodes in which the president's dealings with foreign leaders reflected an apparent single-minded desire to be re-elected. On several occasions, Bolton claims Trump expressing willingness to intervene in criminal investigations "to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked."
White House staff will be recommended, but no longer required to wear a face mask while traveling through the West Wing, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a briefing on Wednesday.
Why it matters: The White House required masks for staff members in May after multiple people tested positive for the coronavirus, including Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary, Katie Miller, and Trump's personal valet.
Some of the House's highest-ranking Republicans have moved to actively distance themselves from Marjorie Greene, who came out on top in a Georgia congressional primary last week, after Politico discovered videos of her making racist comments.
The state of play: Greene, already a known believer in the QAnon conspiracy theory, repeatedly expresses racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic views in the videos — which appear to have been recorded between late 2017 and early 2019.
At the opening whistle of the English Premier League's first game since the coronavirus forced teams to take a 100-day hiatus, referees and players from Aston Villa and Sheffield United took a knee for 10 seconds to express support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
The big picture: The police killing of George Floyd in the U.S. has sparked an international movement as protesters demand their governments address systemic racism and confront their history as former colonizers.
Solicitor General Noel Francisco will leave his position at the Justice Department on July 3, the agency announced in a statement Wednesday.
Why it matters: Francisco has defended some of the Trump administration's most controversial policies before the Supreme Court, including its 2017 travel ban on people from multiple Muslim-majority counties, the New York Times reports.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will end his daily coronavirus briefings this week, he told reporters Wednesday.
Why it matters: His final briefing on Friday will be his 111th, per NY1's Pat Kiernan — an unprecedented streak of media availability amid the pandemic.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading President Trump in all six 2020 battleground states tracked by a CNBC/Change Research poll out Wednesday.
Why it matters: It's the first time Biden has led across all six states in this poll, reflecting his growing momentum both nationwide and in critical swing states needed to win the election.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and his wife Patty Quillin announced Wednesday they are donating $120 million to the United Negro College Fund, Spelman College and Morehouse College.
Why it matters: It's the largest recorded individual gift to support scholarships at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which Reed and Quillin hope will encourage other wealthy individuals to make donations as well.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and other Senate Republicans introduced Wednesday their police reform bill that encourages departments to ban chokeholds through the use of federal grants and requires officers to report uses of force and no-knock warrants.
Why it matters: The bill, which has the support of the majority of the Senate GOP conference and the White House, is seen as the starting point for larger negotiations with House Democrats on compromise legislation.
Quaker Oats announced Wednesday that it will rebrand and rename its Aunt Jemima products, saying it recognizes that the brand's "origins are based on a racial stereotype," NBC News reports.
Why it matters: In the wake of protests over systemic racism and police brutality, private companies are being forced to reckon with how their consumer products or branding may be harmful or offensive to communities of color.
President Trump sure is good at selling books — even when they attack him.
The state of play: The president said this week that "a lot of people are upset" that John Bolton, his former national security adviser, had written the 592-page book — "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," out Tuesday.
No other social change movement in the Trump era has come close to the intensity of social media attention forged in the wake of the George Floyd killing, according to data provided exclusively by NewsWhip.
Why it matters: The power of this movement can be seen in the concrete changes made as local, state and federal government grapple with how policing across the country can be reformed.
A group of prominent Republican operatives that includes former officials from the Trump and George W. Bush administrations are launching a super PAC to turn out GOP voters for Joe Biden in November, organizers tell Axios.
Details: The "Right Side PAC" aims to identify former Trump supporters across the country who have cooled to the president's approach in office and convince them to vote for Biden, says founder Matt Borges, a former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said on Tuesday she will issue an executive order before the November elections to restore voting rights for paroled felons in the state, per the New York Times.
Why it matters: Iowa has grappled in recent years with its restrictive laws for felon voting access. But recent protests over criminal justice reform have highlighted the lifelong barriers to democracy that some citizens face after finishing their criminal sentences.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote Tuesday in an op-ed that Facebook's 2020 goal is "to help 4 million people register to vote."
Why it matters: Facebook has faced scrutiny over the last four years for the way its platform was unwittingly used in spreading misinformation during the 2016 election cycle. Now, the company is doing everything in its power to bolster civic engagement ahead of the November election.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday seeking to block former national security adviser John Bolton from publishing his tell-all book on June 23, claiming that Bolton breached his contract by failing to complete a pre-publication review for classified information.
The big picture: The memoir by Bolton, a prolific note taker, is expected to shed light on alleged misconduct by President Trump related to his dealings with foreign countries. Trump claimed on Monday that Bolton would have a "very strong criminal problem" if he proceeded with publishing the book, stating: “I will consider every conversation with me as president to be highly classified."
The Senate Ethics Committee said Tuesday it found "no evidence" that Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) violated the law or Senate rules, dropping its investigation into allegations of insider trading, the Washington Post reports.
Catch up quick: Loeffler and her husband traded millions of dollars in stock after receiving a private briefing in January on the coronavirus' potential economic toll.
