“The U.S. Treasury said on Monday that it will no longer require certain tax-exempt organizations including politically active nonprofit groups, such as the National Rifle Association and Planned Parenthood, to identify their financial donors to U.S. tax authorities,” Reuters reports.
Trump’s $250K Jerusalem Embassy Will Cost $21 Million
President Trump “has repeatedly boasted that he would save US taxpayers a bundle by negotiating a $250,000 price tag for a new embassy in Jerusalem. Turns out the final cost, just for a temporary facility, is almost 100 times more,” Al Monitor reports.
“Documents uploaded this week to the official database of federal spending show that Maryland-based joint venture Desbuild Limak D&K has been awarded a $21.2 million award to design and build ‘addition and compound security upgrades’ to the embassy in Jerusalem’s Arnona neighborhood. That’s in addition to the $335,000 spent to get the facility, formerly a US consulate, ready for its ritzy grand opening as an embassy back in May.”
Trump Says ‘Nuclear Warming’ Is Biggest Problem
President Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that “nuclear warming” is the biggest issue the United States is facing.
Said Trump: “I know President Obama said global warming is our biggest problem and I would say that no, nuclear warming is our biggest problem, by a factor of about five million.”
He added: “The nuclear problem, we have to make sure, we have to be very careful, if you look at Russia and the United States, that’s 90 percent of the nuclear weapons.”
Fox News Host Says Mexico Interferes In U.S. Elections
Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused Mexico of interfering in U.S. elections by sending immigrants over the border to vote.
Said Carlson: “I don’t think Russia is our close friend or anything like that. Of course they’re trying to interfere in our affairs; they have for a long time. Many countries do, some more successfully than Russia, like Mexico, which is routinely interfering in our elections by packing our electorate.”
Both Parties Equally Likely to Vote This Year
A new PRRI survey finds that Republicans and Democrats are about equally likely to say they are sure to vote this year, 59% vs. 56%.
For comparison, Republicans held a considerable edge in 2014. More than two-thirds (68%) of Republicans, compared to only about half (51%) of Democrats, said they were absolutely certain to vote four years ago.
Key takeaway: “The generation gap in reported voting intent is massive. Only 28% of young adults say they are absolutely certain they will vote in the 2018 election compared to 74% of seniors.”
In the generic ballot, Democrats lead Republicans by 11 points, 53% to 42%.
Trump Officials Embarrassed by Putin Show
“President Trump sucking up to Vladamir Putin after the summit in Helsinki yesterday was such an unbelievable, indelible moment that many deflated White House officials didn’t even bother to defend or explain it,” Axios reports.
One of Trump’s own former National Security Council officials texted: “Dude. This is a total fucking disgrace. The President has lost his mind.”
However: “It’s highly unlikely any top White House officials will quit in protest; inconceivable congressional Republicans will do anything other than complain (mostly gently) in public; and unimaginable Trump will regret or rethink his pro-Putin approach.”
Quote of the Day
“I never saw or imagined so uneven a handover of American security interests and principles with nothing in return… It was like watching the destruction of a cathedral.”
— Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, quoted by Politico, on President Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ryan Kills Stunt to Force Vote to Abolish ICE
Speaker Paul Ryan “quashed a rank-and-file effort to force Democrats to take a politically toxic vote to abolish the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency,” Politico reports.
“House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) last week floated the idea of forcing Democrats to vote on a bill that would eliminate ICE, a proposal backed by the far-left but is unpopular with most voters. Republicans, the thinking went, would win either way: Democrats would either back the bill and watch Republicans use it against them in the midterms. Or a portion of Democrats would oppose it, depressing the liberal base.”
”But Ryan was concerned about a third option: that Democrats wouldn’t vote at all, or uniformly oppose it, making Republicans look silly.”
Trump vs. America
Thomas Friedman: “Such behavior by an American president is so perverse, so contrary to American interests and values, that it leads to only one conclusion: Donald Trump is either an asset of Russian intelligence or really enjoys playing one on TV.”
“Everything that happened in Helsinki today only reinforces that conclusion. My fellow Americans, we are in trouble and we have some big decisions to make today. This was a historic moment in the entire history of the United States.”
“There is overwhelming evidence that our president, for the first time in our history, is deliberately or through gross negligence or because of his own twisted personality engaged in treasonous behavior — behavior that violates his oath of office to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’”
Not Really that Shocking
Michelle Goldberg: “While I was as shocked as everyone else, I shouldn’t have been. Trump’s behavior on Monday recalled his outburst at Trump Tower after the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, when he insisted there were ‘very fine people’ among the racist demonstrators. Both times, everything Trump said was in keeping with things he’d said before. The shocking part was his frankness. Then, as now, it forced, if just for a moment, a collective apprehension of just what a repulsive abomination this presidency is.”
“It’s always been obvious that Trump does not hold Russia’s hacking of the 2016 election, which he publicly encouraged and gleefully benefited from, against Putin. None of us yet know the exact contours of Trump’s relationship with Russia, whether Putin is his handler, his co-conspirator or just his hero. But it’s clear that Trump is willing to sell out American democracy for personal gain.”
Experts Say Manafort Could Be Cutting Plea Deal
Law & Crime: “The judge overseeing Paul Manafort‘s federal court case on charges of tax evasion and bank fraud in Virginia delayed proceedings in a surprise move on Monday afternoon. According to legal experts familiar with the federal court system, this could be an indication that Manafort is about to cut a plea deal.”
“The delay may or may not have caught the prosecution and defense off guard–but was certainly a shock to those watching the events unfold from a distance. According to the publicly-accessible court docket, no party had submitted a request for such a delay and there was also no indication of an official court notice being filed as of late Monday afternoon.”
Trump Defied Advisers In Embrace of Putin
Washington Post: “Administration officials had hoped that maybe, just maybe, Monday’s summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladmir Putin would end differently — without a freewheeling 46-minute news conference in which Trump attacked his own FBI on foreign soil and warmly praised archrival Russia.”
“Ahead of the meeting, staffers provided Trump with some 100 pages of briefing materials aimed at laying out a tough posture toward Putin, but the president ignored most of it… Trump’s remarks were ‘very much counter to the plan,’ one adviser said.”
“‘Everyone around Trump’ was urging him to take a firm stance with Putin.”
Ohio GOP Chair Quits Over Trump-Putin Meeting
“A county Republican Party chairman from Southeast Ohio resigned on Monday, citing President Donald Trump’s meeting earlier in the day with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
Said Chris Gagin: “The President is entitled to GOP party leaders, at all levels, fully committed to his views and agenda. Following today’s press conference with Pres. Putin, as well as certain policy differences, most especially on trade, I could no longer fulfill that duty. Thus, I resigned.”
7 Texas Republicans Outraised by Democratic Rivals
“There are few bigger warning signs for a member of Congress that their re-election may be in doubt than when a challenger outraises them. In Texas, it just happened to seven incumbents, all Republicans,” the Texas Tribune reports.
“The numbers only became more striking when compared to their rivals: Some Democratic challengers raised two, three or even four times what their Republican incumbent rivals posted… Along with Sen. Ted Cruz, the six congressional incumbents who were outraised are delegation fixtures: Reps. John Carter, John Culberson, Will Hurd, Pete Olson, Pete Sessions and Roger Williams.”
Trump’s Own Team Said He Looked ‘Incredibly Weak’
A senior Trump political appointee told the Daily Beast that President Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin “went about as well as I expected.”
Said the official: “I honestly had little to no good expectations for this.”
The official added: “Trump looked incredibly weak up there. Putin looks like a champion. I’d like to say I’m shocked but this is the world in which we live now.”
Mega-Donor Mercer Backs Ward In Arizona
“Conservative mega-donor Robert Mercer has cut a $500,000 check to a super PAC backing Arizona Senate hopeful Kelli Ward, a major cash infusion that comes ahead of the Aug. 28 primary,” Politico reports.
“Polls have shown Ward, a conservative former state senator, trailing Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ).”
Ross Met With Companies Tied To His Personal Fortune
A detailed review of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ calendar from February to November 2017 — his first months in office — “reveals dozens of meetings with companies tied to his personal fortune, which he built up over years in private equity,” Forbes reports.
Is Trump Committing Treason?
John Shattuck: “According to the law, the federal crime of treason is committed by a person ‘owing allegiance to the United States who… adheres to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort.’ Misprision (abetting) of treason is committed if a person ‘having knowledge of the commission of treason conceals and does not disclose’ the crime.”
“Today the evidence of Russian cyberattacks against the US democratic process is overwhelming… The president’s hostility to the US investigation of Russian cyberattacks, his failure to impose a cost on Russia for the attacks, his denigration of US alliances, and his eagerness to have ‘an extraordinary relationship’ with the Russian leader all point toward giving aid and comfort to an enemy.”
Max Boot: “In the past, the only people who questioned the loyalty of U.S. presidents were crazy conspiracy theorists such as the John Birchers, who accused President Dwight Eisenhower of being a Russian agent — or the birthers, including Trump, who questioned whether President Barack Obama was really born in the United States. But today the question of where the president’s loyalties lie is a legitimate one, and it will only grow in urgency after Putin deflected the question about whether he had kompromat on Trump.”