memeorandum: Trump interviews Sen. Mike Lee about Supreme Court opening (Dennis Romboy/Deseret News)

2:30 PM ET, July 3, 2018

Top Items:

Corky Siemaszko / NBC News:

Powerful GOP Rep. Jim Jordan accused of turning blind eye to sexual abuse as Ohio State wrestling coach — “At the end of the day, he is absolutely lying if he says he doesn't know what was going on,” a former Ohio State wrestler said. — Rep. Jim Jordan, the powerful Republican congressman from Ohio …

Dartunorro Clark / NBC News:

NBC News poll: Most want vote on Trump Supreme Court nominee before midterms — The survey also found most Democrats and independents said the next justice should be moderate, while 65 percent of Republicans want a conservative. — A majority of Americans believe the Republican-led Senate …

Discussion: Center for Public Integrity, Rasmussen Reports, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hit & Run, Axios, Conservative Review, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire, National Review and SCOTUSblog

Dennis Romboy / Deseret News:

Trump interviews Sen. Mike Lee about Supreme Court opening — SALT LAKE CITY — President Donald Trump interviewed Utah Sen. Mike Lee on Monday about the coming vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, the Deseret News has learned. — Lee, who is in Utah, confirmed the telephone interview but would not elaborate on the conversation.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Joe.My.God., The Daily Caller and Bloomberg

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
What the Supreme Court battle suggests about culture wars

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Common Dreams and Politico

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:
Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a potential Supreme Court nominee, has defended overturning precedents

Discussion: National Review, Real Clear Politics, IJR and Breitbart

Wall Street Journal:
The Abortion Scare Campaign

Discussion: New York Magazine, National Review and Bloomberg

New York Times:

Trump Administration Reverses Obama on Affirmative Action — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will encourage the nation's school superintendents and college presidents to adopt race-blind admissions standards, abandoning an Obama administration policy that called on universities …

Discussion: Politico, National Review, Axios, New Republic, Associated Press, Above the Law, The Root, Joe.My.God., The Week, Political Wire and Althouse

Carrie Johnson / NPR:

Top Justice Department Lawyer Resigns, Latest To Step Down — Scott Schools, a top aide to the deputy attorney general, is planning to leave the Justice Department, according to two people familiar with his decision. — The job title for Schools — associate deputy attorney general …

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo and Big League Politics

Michelle Hackman / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Administration to Rescind Obama Guidelines on Race in College Admissions — Legal opinions from the former administration sought to help colleges consider race to promote diversity — WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is planning to rescind Tuesday a set of Obama-era policies …

Discussion: CNN, Power Line, Hit & Run, HuffPost, Jezebel, IJR, The Daily Caller, KTLA and CNBC

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Trump: ‘If not for me,’ United States would be at war with North Korea — President Trump said Tuesday that the United States would be at war with North Korea without his efforts and that conversations with the nation's leaders are “going well” — an assessment at odds with recent reports …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Vox, The White House, One America News Network and Breitbart

Washington Post:

Ex-congressional IT staffer reaches plea deal that debunks conspiracy theories about illegal information access — Federal prosecutors concluded an 18-month investigation into a former congressional technology staffer on Tuesday by publicly debunking allegations — promoted by conservative media …

Discussion: twitchy.com, Raw Story and Townhall

John Bresnahan / Politico:
Ex-Dem IT staffer slammed by Trump pleads guilty to bank fraud

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Jessica Schneider / CNN:
Ex-House staffer, subject of conspiracy theories, pleads guilty to bank fraud charge

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios and Roll Call

Washington Post:

Pruitt aides reveal new details of his spending and management at EPA — Two of Scott Pruitt's top aides provided fresh details to congressional investigators in recent days about some of his most controversial spending and management decisions, including his push to find a six-figure job …

Discussion: Vox, Splinter, The Week, CNN, New York Times, Daily Kos, HuffPost, CNBC, Mediaite, IJR, New Republic and Axios

CNN:

Whistleblower: EPA's Pruitt kept secret calendar to hide meetings — (CNN)EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and his aides have kept “secret” calendars and schedules to overtly hide controversial meetings or calls with industry representatives and others, according to a former EPA official who is expected to soon testify before Congress.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Political Wire, Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God., AOL, Wall Street Journal and Mediaite

Politico: Fundraising ally screens Pruitt's public records

Kristin Mink:
EPA head Scott Pruitt was 3 tables away as I ate lunch with my child.

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

New York Times Reassigns Reporter in Leak Case — Ali Watkins, the New York Times reporter whose email and phone records were secretly seized by the Trump administration, will be transferred out of the newspaper's Washington bureau and reassigned to a new beat in New York, The Times said on Tuesday.

Discussion: Townhall, Talking Points Memo, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Paul Farhi / Washington Post: New York Times reassigns reporter who dated Senate intelligence staffer at center of FBI probe

emptywheel:

Putting a Face (Mine) to the Risks Posed by GOP Games on Mueller Investigation — I'd like to put a human face — my own — to the risk posed by GOP gamesmanship on the Mueller investigation. — Sometime last year, I went to the FBI and provided information on a person whom I had come …

Discussion: Power Line

Decatur Daily:

Triple homicide leaves ex-wife dead after protection request denied — Before she and two others were shot dead near Ardmore on Sunday, Debra Ann Rivera twice had asked a judge to order her ex-husband to surrender his guns because of alleged abuse. — The request was denied both times.

Discussion: Raw Story

Hugh Hewitt / Washington Post:

Here's who Trump should pick for the Supreme Court — The search for Gorsuch 2.0 is underway at the White House. The best choice for the opening is Judge Raymond Kethledge of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. The 51-year-old judge from central casting …

Discussion: ABC News, Hot Air, Refinery29, Politico and The Hill

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:
Trump Isn't Remaking The Supreme Court. Leonard Leo Is.

Discussion: AOL, BloombergQuint and Common Dreams

David Lat / Above the Law:
The Supreme Court Sweepstakes: The Latest State Of Play — And The Case For Judge Kavanaugh

Discussion: The Guardian, Wall Street Journal and Instapundit

NBC News:

New Trump admin order for separated parents: Leave U.S. with kids or without them — Rights advocates say the new directive prevents migrant parents who were separated from their kids under zero tolerance from asking for asylum in the U.S. — WASHINGTON — Following a court order to reunite …

San Francisco Chronicle:

SF's appalling street life repels residents — now it's driven away a convention — In a move that is alarming San Francisco's biggest industry, a major medical association is pulling its annual convention out of the city — saying its members no longer feel safe.

Amy Graff / San Francisco Chronicle:
‘20 pounds of human waste’ dropped on San Francisco street corner

Discussion: BuzzFeed, National Review, Laredo Morning News and Front Page Magazine

CBS Philly:

Protests Turn Violent As Demonstrators Arrested In Front Of Philadelphia ICE Building — PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Protests turned violent as activists were taken into custody on the streets of Philadelphia on Tuesday as they were calling for the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ryan Gaydos / Fox News:

Walmart boycott campaign launched after outcry over ‘Impeach 45’ clothing — Walmart has found itself on the receiving end of a torrent of outrage after it was discovered Monday that the superstore was selling anti-Trump “Impeach 45” apparel on its website.

Discussion: Walmart.com, Daily Wire, Conservative News Today, Mashable, abc7.com, CBS Denver, Conservative Post, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller and Chicks On The Right

Indianapolis Star:

Indianapolis church ‘detains’ Jesus, Mary, Joseph to protest Trump's immigration policy … A scene of Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus on the lawn of Monument Circle's Christ Church Cathedral on Tuesday, July 3, 2018. “I've had wonderful conversations with people passing by asking what does that mean and watching them figure it out.

Discussion: Boing Boing and The Daily Caller

Matt McKinney / WRTV-TV:
Indianapolis church locks up Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus to condemn immigration policy

Discussion: ThinkProgress and AOL

Scott MacFarlane / NBC4 Washington:

Man Assaulted Secret Service Officer Outside White House After Immigration Rally: Feds — A U.S. Secret Service officer was injured in an assault while on patrol outside the White House on Saturday shortly after the major immigration rally in Lafayette Park, according to newly filed federal court records.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Burgess Everett / Politico:

'I'd like to kill ‘em’: GOP takes on Trump tariffs — Republican lawmakers are losing their patience with the president's trade war, saying it's hurting their states and the party's chances in the midterms. — Republican senators are at their breaking point with Donald Trump's protectionist trade blitz.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post and Talking Points Memo

Dan Primack / Axios:

Trump's tweet on Harley-Davidson doesn't hold up — President Trump on Tuesday escalated his war of words with U.S. motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson, which recently announced plans to move some manufacturing overseas because of tariffs. — Now that Harley-Davidson is moving part …

Discussion: Associated Press, ThinkProgress, Politico, MSNBC and CNBC

Kate Irby / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Congressman denied entry to California detention facility for children under age 14 — PLEASANT HILL — The cry of a child could be heard just inside the nondescript, brown detention facility in Pleasant Hill, California, a San Francisco suburb, and Rep. Jeff Denham wanted to see for himself what was inside.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Peter Hasson / The Daily Caller:

‘ABOLISH ICE’: Vandals Throw Brick Through Window Of GOP Office, Leave Graffiti Message — Vandals threw a brick through the window of the Nebraska Republican Party's headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Monday night, the party said Tuesday. — Republican staffers found a spray-painted message beneath …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Tom Arnold's Bonkers Strategy for Nailing Trump — The high-energy comedian says he knows exactly how to take down the president. Now, if he could only get his hands on one little tape. — BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—The secret of every Donald Trump conspiracy theory—the ones he pushes …

Discussion: Raw Story

Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:

Secret ‘Roe v. Wade’ Film Now Shooting in New Orleans (Exclusive) — Nick Loeb, famous for battling ex Sofia Vergara over frozen embryos, is co-directing a pro-life story of the landmark Supreme Court case, with a cast including conservative stars Jon Voight, Robert Davi and Stacey Dash.

Discussion: Louder With Crowder and Daily Wire

Reuters:

Exclusive: China presses Europe for anti-U.S. alliance on trade — BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) - China is putting pressure on the European Union to issue a strong joint statement against President Donald Trump's trade policies at a summit later this month but is facing resistance, European officials said.

Discussion: Axios, The Week and Political Wire