Axios

Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand is next in line if Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recuses himself from the Russia probe — which he privately admitted he may need to do since he may need to serve as a witness on James Comey's firing.

It's "only a matter of time" before this becomes Brand's responsibility, says Matt Miller, justice and security analyst for MSNBC and former DOJ.

What it means: Whoever serves in this role makes decisions about resources for Special Counsel Bob Mueller's probe into Trump-Russia and has a final say over whether a prosecution can ultimately take place. That probe's significance can't be stressed enough — it just expanded to include an investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice, potential financial crimes of Trump associates, and Jared Kushner's business dealings.

Key nuggets from a New York Times front-pager, "Mueller, Once Above the Fray, Is Now Pulled In," that includes an update on the Mueller machinery:

As the Chinese bike-sharing craze continues, Mobike has raised $600 million in new funding led by Tencent. This comes just months after the company had raised $300 million.

Context: China currently accounts for around 67% of the global on-demand transportation market, according to Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker's latest Internet Trends Report.

Competition: In March, Mobike rival Ofo closed $450 million in funding, and smaller competitor Bluegogo announced $58 million a day prior.

Russia claimed Friday that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, was killed in a May airstrike just outside Raqqa, the group's capital city. In a later statement, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said they didn't have "100% confirmation."

• Details, per AP: "The Defense Ministry said the air raid on May 28 that targeted an IS meeting held on the southern outskirts of Raqqa in Syria also killed about 30 mid-level militant leaders and about 300 other fighters."
• The case for caution: "There had been previous reports of al-Baghdadi being killed but they did not turn out to be true."
• The U.S. isn't commenting: "The spokesman for the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition said in a statement Friday he could not confirm the Russian claim."

This article has been updated to include more recent Russian hedging on their initial claims.

Special Counsel Bob Mueller is investigating the business dealings and finances of Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, "officials familiar with the matter" told the Washington Post.

Catch up quick: Kushner has previously said he's willing to speak with investigators about his dealings with Russia, including meetings with the Russian Ambassador and the chairman of a state-owned Russian bank in December. He's also been under scrutiny over reports he tried to set up a secret backchannel to the Kremlin.

Kushner's lawyer weighs in: "It would be standard practice for the Special Counsel to examine financial records to look for anything related to Russia."

One more nugget from the Post report: The FBI official who objected to the idea of Comey telling Trump he wasn't investigating him personally was General Counsel James Baker.