News from the note…
A round up of the day’s news that might be of interest to you.
Consider this an OPEN THREAD, folks. Chat about any of the stories listed, share links to stories that caught your eye today, and generally have a good time discussing whatever you want.
Trump administration won’t meet family reunification deadline
From The Hill
The Trump administration said Monday that it will not be able to comply with the court-ordered deadline to reunite all migrant children under age 5 separated from their families with their parents, according to The Washington Post.
Justice Department attorney Sarah Fabian told U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw that officials would be able to reunite at least 54, and possibly up to 59, of the 102 named children by Tuesday, the Post reported.
Last month, Sabraw ordered the government to reunite all children under 5 with their parents by July 10 and children ages 5 to 17 by July 26.
The government sought an extension on the deadline, saying they needed more time to conduct DNA testing.
“I am very encouraged about the progress,” Sabraw said on Monday, according to the newspaper. “This is real progress. I’m optimistic that many of these families will be reunited tomorrow.”
Sasse tempts Trump’s wrath by refusing to bow
From Politico
Ben Sasse has so far been spared the public floggings that Donald Trump inflicted on two since-vanquished GOP critics in the Senate, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker.
But that may soon change.
As the “never Trump” faction of the Republican Party dwindles to a lonely few, the Nebraska senator has shown little interest in backing down – leaving him vulnerable to a Trump-fueled primary challenge in 2020, when he’s up for reelection.
How Sasse responds — he has a book coming out three weeks before the midterm elections and has quietly launched a new political non-profit group, fueling speculation that he might launch a Hail Mary bid for president rather than seek another term in the Senate — promises to be the next intra-GOP drama.
GOP lawmaker rejects racism charge: ‘My son is named after a black guy’
From The Hill
Rep. Scott Taylor (R-Va.), who is campaigning for reelection in November, said Democrats are “stupid” if they believe he is an ally of Virginia GOP Senate candidate Corey Stewart.
“I don’t give a shit about Corey Stewart,” Taylor told The Virginia-Pilot. “No one else does either except for Democrats who are trying to target me. … No one cares, except for a small teeny amount of people you met at the cupcake place. What are they trying to say? That Scott Taylor likes Corey Stewart so therefore he’s a racist?”
“Do you think that’s going to play here?” Taylor continued. “My son is named after a black guy. I’m a military guy. We don’t give a shit about where you come from. Black, white, brown, gay, straight. I don’t care.”
It is unclear who Taylor’s 5-year-old son, reportedly named Sterling, is named after.
Giuliani confirms WH contested Mueller interview with John Kelly
From CNN
Rudy Giuliani confirmed on Sunday that the White House contested a request from the special counsel to interview White House chief of staff John Kelly.
Giuliani, in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” also spoke about the latest preconditions he is demanding for an interview between the special counsel and President Donald Trump.
Asked about a report in The New York Times that included news of the pushback against special counsel Robert Mueller’s request for an interview with Kelly, Giuliani said the special counsel team was dealing with White House attorney Emmet Flood on that issue.
“I’m glad to see that Emmet is using a high standard because after all, we’ve given them everything they ask,” Giuliani said. “Thirty-two witnesses, no invocation of privilege. 1.4 million documents, no invocation of privilege. Tell me we have something to hide. We have nothing to hide.”
Pregnant Women Say They Miscarried In Immigration Detention And Didn’t Get The Care They Needed
From BuzzFeed
Two weeks after arriving in the US seeking asylum, E, 23, found herself in a detention cell in San Luis, Arizona, bleeding profusely and begging for help from staff at the facility. She was four months pregnant and felt like she was losing her baby. She had come to the US from El Salvador after finding out she was pregnant, in the hopes of raising her son in a safer home.
“An official arrived and they said it was not a hospital and they weren’t doctors. They wouldn’t look after me,” she told BuzzFeed News, speaking by phone from another detention center, Otay Mesa in San Diego. “I realized I was losing my son. It was his life that I was bleeding out. I was staining everything. I spent about eight days just lying down. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t do anything. I started crying and crying and crying.”
Stuck in detention and having lost her baby, E says she wouldn’t have come to the US seeking a safer life if she’d known what would happen. She asked that her full name not to be used out of fear of repercussions while in detention and for her family back home.
Go deeper: Mueller investigation stories spark new journalism debate
From Axios
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — and the reporting around it — is raising new questions about journalistic ethics in an era rife with fake news.
Why it matters: Protecting the relationship between reporter and source is a tenet of good journalism, but secrets and opacity can be tricky in times like these, when public distrust in politics and the media is ever-increasing.
Allies seek to defend Jim Jordan from Ohio State allegations
From The Hill
Embattled Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and his allies went on offense Monday as a half dozen former wrestling coaches rallied behind their former Ohio State coaching colleague and insisted he did not know about a team doctor sexually assaulting student athletes decades ago.
In a phone interview on Monday, former Ohio State University head wrestling coach Russ Hellickson vehemently denied that he or Jordan had ever seen or been told that Dr. Richard Strauss was molesting or sexually assaulting OSU wrestlers during the 1980s and 90s.
“I am frankly pissed off at what they are doing to Jim Jordan. This is hysteria and politics running the narrative,” Hellickson told The Hill in a phone interview. Jordan “gave his heart and soul to the personal development of these athletes. If they are attacking him, why aren’t they attacking the 30 or 40 other coaches at OSU?
US Army, citing security concerns with recruiting program, discharging immigrants
From CNN
In June, a young Pakistani student studying in Minnesota managed to get his hands on the documents that explained why he wouldn’t be allowed to join the United States Army.
The electrical engineering student, who didn’t want his name revealed because of fear of reprisals if he goes back to Pakistan, “has the potential to present a security risk” the now unclassified document reads.
But it’s not clear exactly what that risk is. The document simply notes “incomplete data and records checks.” And in the section “Foreign Ties,” the interviewer notes that the student’s “cell phone case is an American flag and he has a US Army bumper sticker on his car.”
The young man is one of an increasing number of immigrants who are turning to the courts to fight their rejection by the Army, according to a lawyer who started a program to recruit talented foreigners into the US military. The military says the program they’d signed up through, which promised expedited citizenship in exchange for service, had become a security risk and that applicants require tougher vetting. Critics accuse the Pentagon of xenophobia, building on a fear of foreigners to the detriment of an Army that is struggling to find enough recruits, and talented ones at that.
Bartender cursed at Stephen Miller as he picked up takeout sushi: Washington Post
From The Hill
A Washington, D.C., bartender once followed White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller out of a sushi restaurant and cursed at him, according to the Washington Post.
In a story that detailed numerous cases of current and former Trump administration officials taking insults from members of the public in Washington, D.C., the newspaper mentioned an anecdote it said Miller had told to numerous colleagues.
Miller, a former Senate aide who has had a leading role in the administration’s immigration policies, told colleagues he had been insulted after picking up $80 in sushi from a restaurant near his downtown apartment.
Miller reportedly said that a bartender followed him onto the street, before shouting his name.
Miller said the bartender then raised both middle fingers toward him and cursed at him. The Post reports that Miller told co-workers that he became so outraged that he threw the sushi away.
