Monday,
July 17
á The
U.S. Secret Service denied a suggestion from President Donald Trump's personal
lawyer that it had vetted a meeting between Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer in
June 2016. http://tinyurl.com/ybxkvr6x
á Thousands
of Colorado residents canceled their voter registrations, afraid that TrumpŐs
voter fraud commission would publicly release private information. http://tinyurl.com/yabapbfd
á BuzzFlash
reported that right wing paramilitary groups are being encouraged by Republican
Party officials to stand armed, ready to defend Trumpism. In what appears to be
an escalation of an ominous trend, Multnomah County Republican Party of
Portland, Oregon, voted to approve a proposal to allow armed members of Oregon
Three Percenters, and the Oath Keepers, to provide security for future
pro-Trump, alt-right, and anti-Sharia rallies. http://tinyurl.com/ydankum9
á According
to the Commitment to Reducing Inequality index, TrumpŐs tax reform plans would,
if enacted, increase the gap between rich and poor Americans and see the U.S.
slip below Greece on a new global index of inequality. http://tinyurl.com/y7wvw8rm
Tuesday,
July 18
á According
to New Republic, over the past three decades, at least 13 people with
known or alleged links to Russian mobsters or oligarchs have owned, lived in,
and even run criminal activities out of Trump Tower and other Trump properties
and
were beginning to invest in high-end real estate as a vehicle to launder money
from their criminal enterprises. http://tinyurl.com/yc8a48xl
á An
eighth person present at a 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian
lawyer was identified as an American-based representative of a Russian real
estate firm. http://tinyurl.com/y7buhz39
á According to Rolling Stone, Secretary of
State Tillerson has decimated the State DepartmentŐs ability to bring
experience to bear on international problems and to reconcile conflicts from
the Middle East to Asia. http://tinyurl.com/ya3598az
á A federal court rejected the Trump
administrationŐs effort to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the approval of
fracking in federal waters off California. http://tinyurl.com/y7f8see9
á Trump, angered over failure of the new
healthcare bill, suggested the GOP simply repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
http://tinyurl.com/y9ysvpo9
á It was revealed that Trump and Putin had a
previously undisclosed hour-long meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. http://tinyurl.com/ydz585lp
á Secretary
of State Tillerson closed the office that works to hold war criminals
accountable. http://tinyurl.com/ych3mx9x
á ThinkProgress
reported that preparations have begun in the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge in South
Texas to construct the first leg of TrumpŐs border wall. The refuge protects
400 species of birds, 450 types of plants, half of the butterfly species found
in North America, and is home to the highly-endangered ocelot. http://tinyurl.com/y7te468r
Wednesday,
July 19
á The Wall
Street Journal reported that House GOP members are seeking to defund the
U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the sole federal agency that exclusively
works to ensure the voting process is secure, as part of proposed federal
budget cuts. http://tinyurl.com/ycyfqc4p
á According to the Washington Post, Trump
decided to close a covert CIA program to arm and train Syrian rebels fighting
the Assad regime. http://tinyurl.com/ycnwmyjz
á Greg Palast reported that 28 states, almost
all GOP-controlled, turned over a total of over 98 million voter files,
including social security numbers, directly to voter fraud commission chief
Kris KobachŐs Kansas office, rather than to the commissionŐs DC office. http://tinyurl.com/y9ju4q6y
á Rep.
Barbara Lee accused House Speaker Paul Ryan of underhandedly stripping her
amendment that removes the authority of the president to wage war from a
Defense Department spending bill. http://tinyurl.com/yb4fr9tw
á Trump
said he wants to gut ACA markets by ending subsidy payments to defray
the cost of healthcare plans for individuals with low incomes. http://tinyurl.com/y985wd7l
á Democracy Now! reported that tens of
thousands of people may have their student debt erased as private creditors are
realizing they don't actually have the paperwork required to prove they own the
loans. http://tinyurl.com/yac2gojc
á The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed
the Environmental Protection Agency up to five years to decide whether or not to
ban the pesticide chlorpyrofis and allowed chlorpyrofis to remain in use during
that time. http://tinyurl.com/y96t38zm
á The
Justice Department announced reinstatement of a previous federal policy to help
state and local police take cash and property from people suspected of a crime
even without a criminal charge. http://tinyurl.com/y8g2tr49
á After the
House certified IranŐs compliance with the multilateral nuclear deal, the Trump
administration imposed more restrictions on Iranian non-nuclear activities. http://tinyurl.com/y84bmw7b
á According to Esquire, the reason we
never saw TrumpŐs tax returns was because of what they might reveal about the
flow of Russian money to TrumpŐs companies and how money had been allegedly
laundered. http://tinyurl.com/y82efh34
á The EPA
considered gutting its lead contamination rules. http://tinyurl.com/y95mesgy
Thursday,
July 20
á In an interview with the New York Times, Trump
said that if heŐd known that Attorney General (AG) Sessions would recuse
himself from the Russia probe, ŇI would have picked somebody else.Ó. http://tinyurl.com/y9pal4h9
á The
Congressional Budget Office said that repealing the ACA would leave 32 million
people uninsured. http://tinyurl.com/y7tnhlux
á The Supreme Court upheld a Hawaii judges
travel ban decision to allow grandparents and other relatives of Muslims in the
US to visit them. http://tinyurl.com/y86dcsl7
á House bill called Dignity for Incarcerated
Women Act was introduced to enact reforms in the treatment of women in federal
prisons. http://tinyurl.com/yajq7q7x
á
The
U.S. Treasury Department fined Exxon Mobil $2 million for violating sanctions on Russia in May 2014 when Secretary of State Tillerson was
its CEO. http://tinyurl.com/yaydbklj
á Exxon
sued the US government saying a $2 million fine levied against it is
"unlawful" and "capricious." http://tinyurl.com/y7lghcly
á The Daily Beast reported that the Trump
administration has spent taxpayer money meant to encourage enrollment in the
ACA on a public relations campaign aimed at methodically strangling it. http://tinyurl.com/yaepox5h
á The Intercept reported legislation introduced
in Congress that would make it a
felony for Americans to support the international boycott against
Israel. http://tinyurl.com/y94k9vvn
á Trump nominated Sam Clovis, a conservative
talk show host, as the US Department of AgricultureŐs top scientist. http://tinyurl.com/y9eo2oyl
á The
White House froze or withdrew hundreds of planned rules, a move aimed at
bolstering the economy but that scraps proposed protections for workers and the
environment. http://tinyurl.com/y7wsoo66
á Joel
Clement, former director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the Interior
Department, was arbitrarily reassigned to an obscure accounting post by
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to punish him for speaking up about protections
for native Americans in Alaska. http://tinyurl.com/y7lsu3lh
á According
to a report released by Senator Elizabeth Warren, ŇTrump's army of [193 former]
lobbyists [who have worked for Trump since the election ] are
more interested in lining the pockets of their long-time employers and corporate
buddies than in making life better for working families.Ó http://tinyurl.com/y7nypbhb
á The
EPA said it plans to repeal the Clean Power Plan that limits carbon dioxide
output from power plants. http://tinyurl.com/yaes76xu
Friday,
July 21
á The
Washington Post reported that some of TrumpŐs lawyers are exploring ways to
limit or undercut Special Counsel Robert MuellerŐs Russia investigation by
building a case against what they allege are his conflicts of interest and by
discussing the president's authority to grant pardons. http://tinyurl.com/yagsfk24
á Earlier
this month, the Trump administration granted Italian oil company Eni the right
to drill exploratory wells in the Arctic. In response, the head of the US Coast
Guard warned that there is no way to successfully clean up an oil spill in the
Arctic. http://tinyurl.com/y7o8pce5
á The
State Department said it will ban the use of U.S. passports for travel to North
Korea. http://tinyurl.com/ydetx43w
á Trump hired Anthony Scaramucci as
White House communications director. http://tinyurl.com/y8mbu5b8
á Sean Spicer resigned as TrumpŐs press
secretary. http://tinyurl.com/y74tyvvo
á TrumpŐs
lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, stepped away from representing Trump in the Russia case.
John Dowd, a prominent Washington-based criminal defense lawyer will become
TrumpŐs chief attorney in the case.
á The Los
Angeles Times reported that drone pilots have been quitting the U.S. Air
Force in record numbers in recent years — faster than new recruits can be
selected and trained. They cite a combination of low-class status in the
military, overwork and psychological trauma. http://tinyurl.com/yadrwoun
á Jared
Kushner failed to disclose $10 million of financial holdings that he was
required to declare as an adviser to Trump, his father-in-law, according to a revised
form released Friday. http://tinyurl.com/yb2ynksa
á Jeffrey
Clark, former lawyer for British Petroleum, was nominated by Trump to lead the
Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. http://tinyurl.com/y8ekdyat
Saturday,
July 22
á
According to RussiaŐs ambassador Sergei Kislyak,
AG Sessions discussed campaign-related matters, including policy issues
important to Moscow, with the ambassador during the 2016 presidential race. http://tinyurl.com/yaqmvmoo
á The
Russian Embassy in Washington announced that RussiaŐs ambassador to the U.S., Sergei
Kislyak's, tenure ended. http://tinyurl.com/y6v3x39b
á Trump decried
the Washington PostŐs report of previously undisclosed alleged contacts between
AG Sessions and a Russian official. http://tinyurl.com/ycc9bk8n
á The
Washington Post reported that two former senior intelligence officials
expressed anger at TrumpŐs statements disparaging the intelligence community
and disbelief at his embrace of Russia. http://tinyurl.com/y7yryyqx
á A U.S. airstrike confirmed by the
Pentagon killed 12 Afghan National Police officers and wounded two others. http://tinyurl.com/y7ehjppk
á As
special counsel MuellerŐs investigation widened to include the presidentŐs
finances, Trump said such inquiries were a ŇviolationÓ of the scope of the
probe. http://tinyurl.com/y8trrenv
Sunday,
July 23
á The
House prepared to vote next week on a bill that would prevent Trump from
lifting sanctions against Moscow. http://tinyurl.com/y9csw5ct
á A
federal sting operation where the Government Accountability Office created a
fictitious law enforcement agency revealed lax oversight in the Defense
DepartmentŐs gear giveaway program. http://tinyurl.com/y7bxwo8d
á TrumpŐs
newly appointed communications director Anthony Scaramucci threatened to get
rid of White House staff if leaks donŐt stop. http://tinyurl.com/y7p6kvx6
á The Trump administration ended Obamacare computer and internet
assistance in 18 cities, leaving health insurance shoppers with fewer places to
turn for help signing up for coverage. http://tinyurl.com/y73la39a
á The DOJ announced a crackdown on marijuana users, raising fears
of tougher sentences for those caught growing, selling and smoking the plant. http://tinyurl.com/yaf5frqt
á Trump's
personal lawyer said that it would be up to the Supreme Court to rule on
whether presidents could pardon themselves. http://tinyurl.com/y7ufbvt4