“President Trump’s latest anointment of an acting head of a major federal agency has prompted muttering, but no more than that, from Republican senators whose job description includes confirming top administration aides,” the AP reports.

“Their reluctance to confront Trump comes as veterans of the confirmation process and analysts say he’s placed acting officials in key posts in significantly higher numbers than his recent predecessors. The practice lets him quickly, if temporarily, install allies in important positions while circumventing the Senate confirmation process, which can be risky with Republicans running the chamber by a slim 53-47 margin.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) blocked an effort by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) to pass a bill via unanimous consent requiring campaigns to report any offers of foreign assistance to the FBI, Axios reports.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), responding to Blackburn’s objection, said on the Senate floor: “How disgraceful it is that our Republican friends cower before this president when they know that the things he does severely damage democracy.”

“Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) makes no apologies for bringing down a Republican judicial nominee — even if his tactics irritate some of his own GOP colleagues,” Politico reports.

Said Hawley: “One of the things that has been so painful for conservative voters over the years is to see people like former Justice David Souter put on the bench, who wasn’t really vetted. People ask how could it happen over time? One of the ways it happens is that Republican senators don’t actually take the job seriously.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she was “disturbed” by the events.

Washington Post: “The president’s oldest son is expected to spend about four hours with the committee answering a limited number of questions, according to people familiar with the terms — including queries about a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer promising incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.”

“Congressional Democrats believe that Trump Jr. may have lied to them during previous testimony about the meeting and whether he told his father about it — suspicions that were heightened after the publication of Robert Mueller’s report.”

President Trump “faces a growing Republican rebellion on one of his judicial nominees, throwing his confirmation into doubt,” Politico reports.

“Michael Bogren, who Trump nominated to serve on a federal district court, is already opposed by three Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee — Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — and others could emerge, according to multiple GOP sources. It’s an unusual conflict for a GOP-controlled Senate, which has breezed through nominees.”

” Their complaint centers on a belief that Bogren is no friend to religious liberty after he signed a brief while defending the City of East Lansing against a Catholic couple that opposed same-sex marriage.”

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told administration officials that President Trump should delay imposing tariffs on Mexico until he can personally make his argument to Republicans in Congress,” Bloomberg reports.

“McConnell has also warned the White House that Trump can’t take GOP support for granted.”

Geoffrey Skelley: “It’s been 60 years since a new state entered the union, but now Democrats and liberals are accelerating efforts to gain statehood for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. One of their motivations is the future of the U.S. Senate, which is currently biased toward the Republican Party. The logic goes that if Democrats can get unified control of the federal government after the 2020 election, they could push through statehood for both, adding four more seats to the Senate, and all four would likely be Democratic leaning.”

“That might seem far-fetched, but the U.S. has a rich history of partisan state-making.”

Jeffrey Toobin: “There’s another, less obvious reason that McConnell can game the Supreme Court confirmation process with impunity. The Republican Party has been far more invested in the future of the Supreme Court, and of the judiciary generally, than the Democratic Party has. Judicial appointments, especially to the Supreme Court, are a central pillar of the Republican agenda, and Republican voters will forgive any number of other transgressions if the Party delivers on the courts.”

“Donald Trump understood this. That’s why, during the 2016 campaign, he released a short list of possible nominees to the Court. The list was largely compiled by Leonard Leo, the executive vice-president of the Federalist Society, and the names on it demonstrated to the Republican base that Trump was serious about following its agenda—starting with overruling Roe v. Wade.”

“Democrats are different. Consider what happened after McConnell blocked the Garland nomination. After a few days of perfunctory outrage, most Democratic politicians dropped the issue.”