Aug 1, 2017

White House: Trump “weighed in” on Don Jr. statement

Evan Vucci / AP

Sarah Sanders confirmed Tuesday that President Trump weighed in on Donald Trump Jr.'s statement about his meeting with a Russian attorney. That contradicts Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow, who twice said Trump played no role in the statement.

"There's no inaccuracy in the statement... he certainly didn't dictate, but...he weighed in, offered suggestions, like any father would do," said Sanders.

Highlights from her Tuesday briefing:

WH involvement in the Seth Rich story: "The president had no knowledge of the story and it is completely untrue that there was WH involvement."
Trump's comments on police force "It wasn't a directive, it was a joke. There's a very big difference."
When will Trump sign the Russia sanctions bill? "There's nothing holding him back. There's a review process."
Is the WH's credibility problem affecting Trump's agenda? "What's hurting the legislative agenda is Congress's inability to get things passed."
North Korea: "The president has been very outspoken about the need to stop North Korea... and we are keeping all options on the table in order to do that."
On access to Oval Office: "I don't think anybody wanders into the Oval Office."

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Axios

Updated 54 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 2 p.m. ET: 6,325,303 — Total deaths: 377,460 — Total recoveries — 2,727,679 — Map.
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 2 p.m. ET: 1,820,523 — Total deaths: 105,644 — Total recoveries: 458,231 — Total tested: 17,340,682 — Map.
Public health: Protests against police brutality threaten coronavirus response — Controlling the virus in nursing homes won't be easy.
Business: More than 1 in 6 black workers lost jobs between February and April.
Climate: The alarm over climate financial risk gets louder because of coronavirus.
Media: Interest in the George Floyd protests has soared past the coronavirus.

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Updated 1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Updates: George Floyd protests nationwide

Police officers wearing riot gear push back demonstrators outside of the White House on Monday. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images

Protests over the death of George Floyd and other police-related killings of black people continued across the U.S., inciting a federal response from President Trump, the National Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

The latest: Immigration agents have been deployed to assist federal, state and local law enforcement. The U.S. Secret Service closed the streets immediately on all four sides of the White House Tuesday, until "riots become peaceful, or stop."

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NASA passes the torch

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

With the historic crewed SpaceX launch last weekend, NASA passed the torch to private companies that will need to step up to build the economy the space agency envisions in orbit.

Why it matters: This new era of spaceflight will likely be marked by new conflicts — possibly including product placement (like the Tesla that drove the astronauts to the pad on Saturday), safety concerns and cultural differences between companies, the space agencies and people they serve.

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