Trump Fires Anthony Scaramucci, And Other Trump News From Monday
Monday. July 31st. Day 192.
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Trump Personally Dictated Trump Jr.'s Response To Russian Lawyer Meeting: After the initial reports about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower during the campaign were released, the Trump team issued a statement about the nature of the meeting that was shown to be misleading (at best) by subsequent reporting. According to a new report from the Washington Post, Trump himself personally dictated the statement, which may end up putting him in legal jeopardy.
Trump Removes Anthony Scaramucci As Communications Director: The New York Times reports that President Trump has removed Anthony Scaramucci as communications director at the request of his new Chief of Staff, John Kelly. In a statement, The White House said Scaramucci wanted to give John Kelly "a clean slate". The ironic twist of staffing fate comes after Scaramucci waged a campaign against previous Chief of Staff Reince Priebus that resulted in an explosive, expletive-filled interview with The New Yorker last week. In Monday's White House press conference, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders said that President Trump found Scaramucci's comments in The New Yorker to be "inappropriate".
New Chief Of Staff John Kelly Considered Resigning In Solidarity With James Comey: President Trump's new Chief of Staff, previously the Secretary of Homeland Security, was reportedly so upset by James Comey's firing, that he considered resigning himself, according to a CNN report. Multiple sources confirmed that Kelly told Comey that he was considering resigning during a phone call, but that Comey told him not to.
EPA Museum To Replace Section On Paris Climate Agreement With One On Coal: The EPA Museum, a space dedicated to displaying the history and accomplishments of the Environmental Protection Agency, will reportedly be replacing segments on the Paris Climate Agreement and the Clean Power Plan (both scrapped by the Trump administration) with sections on coal and other Trump administration priorities. The Washington Post reports that the renovation plan of the new museum comes after Trump appointees were alerted of the existence of the museum by career officials.
Trump And Japan Agree To Take Further Actions Against North Korea: After yet another North Korean ICBM test on Friday, President Trump reportedly told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the US would "take all necessary measures to protect" Japan. The promise comes after the US staged bomber flyovers on the Korean peninsula this weekend.
After White House Gives Green Light To New Sanctions, Putin Orders Expulsion Of 755 Diplomats: Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the expulsion of 755 US diplomats from Russia in retaliation for the White House's Friday announcement that it would sign new sanctions against Russia into law. In an interview on state-run Rossiya 1, Putin said, "We waited for quite a long time [for US-Russian relations to improve], perhaps, something will change for the better, we held out hope that the situation would somehow change."
Trump To Present His First Medal Of Honor To Vietnam Vet: President Trump as awarding his first Medal of Honor award to Vietnam War veteran James McCloughan. McCloughan is said to have rescued fellow soldiers from combat zones on nine separate occasions, becoming injured three of those times.
Trump Swears In New Chief Of Staff: Monday morning, President Trump swore in a John Kelly as his new Chief of Staff. Kelly, previously Secretary of Homeland Security, was chosen to replace Reince Priebus on Friday. It's unclear who will replace Kelly as Secretary of Homeland Security.
Trump's Tweets
Republicans failed to pass the Obamacare repeal and replace bill last week, leaving President Trump to juggle the big questions:
Monday morning, President Trump also insisted that there is no White House chaos: ignore that Mooch interview and the new Chief of Staff:
