“Being used by Donald Trump for so long, I was like the frog in the hot water. You don’t know that you’re in that situation until it just keeps bubbling and bubbling. … I will say this to you: I was complicit with this White House deceiving this nation. They continue to deceive this nation by how mentally declined he is, how difficult it is for him to process complex information, how he is not engaged in some of the most important decisions that impact our country.”

— Omarosa Manigault Newman, in an interview with NBC News.

Christine Todd Whitman: “President Trump’s disgraceful performance in Helsinki, Finland, and in the days since is an indication that he is not fit to remain in office. Trump’s 2016 “America First” platform might be more aptly named “Russia First” after the disaster that occurred last week.”

“Trump’s turn toward Russia is indefensible. I am a lifelong Republican. I have campaigned and won as a member of the party, and I have served more than one Republican president. My Republican colleagues — once rightfully critical of President Obama’s engagement strategy with Russian leader Vladimir Putin — have to end their willful ignorance of the damage Trump is doing both domestically and internationally. We must put aside the GOP label, as hard as that may be, and demonstrate the leadership our country needs by calling on the president to step down.”

Sen. Rand Paul tweeted that he will ask President Trump to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, who criticized Trump’s performance last week at the Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, CNN reports.

“President Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with Mr. Trump two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump,” the New York Times reports.

“The F.B.I. seized the recording this year during a raid on Mr. Cohen’s office.”

”The recording’s existence further draws Mr. Trump into questions about tactics he and his associates used to keep aspects of his personal and business life a secret. And it highlights the potential legal and political danger that Mr. Cohen represents to Mr. Trump.”

An update… Political Wire has undergone a renovation and I’ve been fixing things that broke. The navigation below to get to the next page is now working.

I’m taking note of all your comments too.

Thanks for your patience!

Beto O’Rourke (D) “raised an eye-popping $10.4 million in the last three months — catching up to Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R) six-year haul in just over 15 months as he seeks to topple the Republican darling,” the Dallas Morning News reports.

“If the lead-up to President Trump’s Supreme Court nomination announcement feels like reality-TV drama, it’s because that’s exactly how it was designed,” the Daily Beast reports.

“But instead of a one-year contract as Trump’s errand boy, the ‘winner’ on Monday night will likely nab a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land and a chance to reshape American law and jurisprudence for generations.”

The formal announcement is expected at 9 p.m. ET.

Pope Francis “has criticized the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant families at the Mexican border, saying populism is not the answer to the world’s immigration problems,” Reuters reports.

“Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is working with White House lawyers to draft an executive action that will end the Trump administration’s practice of separating migrant families at the border,” Politico reports.

“The action will direct the Department of Homeland Security to keep families together and will instruct the Department of Defense to help house the families because many of the detention centers are at capacity, the source said.”

“President Trump is expected to sign the action, the source added.”

“The White House said Friday that President Trump supports House legislation that closely tracks his priorities on border security and limiting legal immigration, walking back comments he made on national television rejecting the GOP bill,” the Washington Post reports.

“The reversal came after hours of confusion on Capitol Hill, where Trump’s words roiled an already fragile internal debate between conservative and moderate Republicans in the House who have beeen trying to find an immigration compromise after months of false starts.”