Trump Says He'd Never Hire Sessions Knowing That He'd Recuse Himself From Russia Probe, And Other Trump News From Wednesday
Wednesday. July 19th. Day 180.
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Trump Says He Wouldn't Have Appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions If He Knew He'd Recuse Himself From Russia Investigation: In a candid interview with The New York Times, President Trump said he would have never appointed Jeff Sessions had he known he would recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Trump also issued a warning to special investigator Robert Mueller, saying he'd be crossing a red line to investigate Trump finances not related to Russia. Trump also accused former FBI Director James Comey of holding the salacious Russia dossier over his head. Trump told The Times he believed that Comey briefed Trump on the matter to use it as leverage. Read more at The New York Times.
Donald Trump Jr. And Paul Manafort Will Testify In Front of Congress About Russia: The Guardian reports that Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort are scheduled to testify before Congress on July 26th. The two are set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but neither confirmed they will appear to The Guardian. Trump Jr. has become embroiled in scandal after it was reported that he met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer to received anti-Clinton information during the Trump campaign. Paul Manafort was Trump's campaign chairman before he was pushed out of the campaign for his connections to Russia. Read more at The Guardian.
Trump's Proposal To Repeal Obamacare Would Raise Number Of Uninsured By 27 Million By 2020: President Trump's suggestion to simply repeal Obamacare without a replacement bill would raise the number of uninsured people in America by 32 million by 2026 — 10 million more than the proposed Republican healthcare law, according to the CBO. The House Freedom Caucus took steps Wednesday to fast track a repeal bill to the House floor by September. Read more at Politico.
Trump Ends Covert Program Assisting Anti-Assad Syrian Rebels: President Trump has ended the CIA's covert efforts to assist anti-Assad Syrian rebels in Syria. The end of the program marks a significant victory for Russia, who has supported Assad's regime, and a new chapter in American foreign policy in Syria. After the G20, it was reported that the Trump administration would significantly shift it's policy towards a pro-Assad stance. Read more at The Washington Post.
Supreme Court Sides With Hawaii, Trump Must Enforce Travel Ban More Narrowly: In a short ruling Wednesday, the Supreme Court sided with a lower court that ruled that President Trump's travel ban must be enforced more narrowly. Previously, the administration would not even allow family members of people in the US from the banned countries to travel to the US, but now, after The Court's ruling, the government must more charitably accept family members of people who are in the country legally. Read more at The Washington Post.
Jeff Sessions Reinstates Program Allowing Police To Seize Property Without Criminal Charges: Jeff Sessions has reinstated the DOJ's controversial asset seizure program that allows police to seize assets from suspected criminals without any charges actually being filed. Despite 24 states banning the practice, local police forces can now get around those laws by giving seized assets to the federal government. Read more at CBS.
Trump Picks Former Utah Governor To Be Ambassador To Russia: On Tuesday evening the Trump administration announced that it would nominate former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman for the position of US ambassador to Russia. Huntsman previously served as ambassador to China and Singapore under President Obama and President George HW Bush respectively. During the presidential campaign, Huntsman called for Trump to step down as the Republican nominee after the release of the Access Hollywood tape. Previously, Trump criticized Huntsman during his ambassadorship to Beijing. Read more at NPR.
Trump's Voter Fraud Commission Holds First Public Meeting: President Trump's Voter Fraud Commission will meet for the first time today, despite there being no substantial evidence of voter fraud. The commission was created by executive order and is chair by Vice President Mike Pence. Read more at Politico.
Attorney That Met With Trump Jr. Ready To Testify To Senate: Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian attorney at the center of the controversy surrounding a meeting between herself and Donald Trump Jr., told RT Tuesday evening that she was "ready to clarify the situation behind this mass hysteria — but only through lawyers or testifying in the Senate." Read more at Reuters.
Trump Administration Announces New Sanctions Against Iran: The day after President Trump begrudgingly re-certified Iran's compliance with the Iran nuclear deal, the administration imposed new sanctions aimed at 16 individuals and groups that the Treasury Department says are "illicit Iranian actors". The subjects of the sanctions allegedly supported Iran's ballistic missile program or the Iranian military. Read more at The Hill.
Trump's Tweets
This morning, President Trump continued to tweet about healthcare, promising an "even better" healthcare bill after lunch today.
