Special counsel Robert Mueller to make ‘substantial’ statement on Russia investigation  —  The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III will make a public statement at 11 a.m. on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In reversal from 2016, McConnell says he would fill a potential Supreme Court vacancy in 2020  —  (CNN)Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday if a Supreme Court vacancy occurs during next year's presidential election, he would work to confirm a nominee appointed by President Donald Trump.

DNC makes it more difficult to qualify for 3rd debate  —  ABC News, in partnership with Univision, will host the third Democratic presidential debate in September, the Democratic National Committee announced Wednesday, saying it was raising both the polling and fundraising bars for candidates to qualify.

Bannon described Trump Organization as ‘criminal enterprise’, Michael Wolff book claims  —  Former White House adviser says financial investigations will take down president in sequel to Fire and Fury  —  The former White House adviser Steve Bannon has described the Trump Organization …

Maggie Haberman Reacts to Criticism of Her Reporting: ‘The Tenor Has Gotten Extremely Personal’  —  NY Times reporter and CNN contributor Maggie Haberman addressed a recent New York magazine article entitled “Of Course Trump Hates Maggie Haberman.  Why Does the Left?”  Wednesday morning.

Boris Johnson, favorite to be Britain's next PM, to face court for alleged Brexit lies  —  London (CNN)The leading candidate to succeed Theresa May as British Prime Minister has been ordered to appear in court to face allegations he lied to the public during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign.

No ‘treason.’ No coup.  Just lies — and dumb lies at that.  —  James Comey is a former director of the FBI and a former deputy attorney general.  —  It is tempting for normal people to ignore our president when he starts ranting about treason and corruption at the FBI.  I understand the temptation.

GOP impeachment champion gets a hero's welcome back home  —  GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Rep. Justin Amash is a lonely man in Congress, the sole Republican to back Donald Trump's removal from office.  But back home on Tuesday night, the Michigan lawmaker got the red-carpet treatment in his first face …

U.S. Says Russia Likely Conducting Low-Yield Nuke Tests, Defying Test Ban Treaty  —  Intelligence assessment marks first time U.S. has said Kremlin failed to observe Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty commitments  —  Russia has likely been secretly carrying out very low-yield nuclear tests …

Planned Parenthood's false stat: ‘Thousands’ of women died every year before Roe  —  “We face a real situation where Roe could be overturned.  And we know what will happen, which is that women will die.  Thousands of women died every year pre-Roe.”  —  “Before Roe v. Wade …

CRINGE: Joe Biden gets handsy with young girl, says 'I'll bet you're as bright as you are good-looking'  —  Just to update you on this story we told you about last night, we now have video of 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden getting handsy with a young girl at an AFT town hall and telling her …

Last-Minute Dress Code Left NYT Reporter Wearing Her Wedding Dress to Cover Trump's Dinner at Japan's Imperial Palace  —  “Here I am, pooling a presidential event in my wedding dress,” reporter Annie Karni tweeted Monday  —  There is a saying among veteran White House correspondents that theirs is …

Is There An Anti-Biden Lane In The Democratic Primary?  —  Welcome to FiveThirtyEight's weekly politics chat.  The transcript below has been lightly edited.  —  sarahf (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): After months of presidential candidate announcements, the Democratic primary field appears to be set (although never say never).

Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X outvoted older generations in 2018 midterms  —  Midterm voter turnout reached a modern high in 2018, and Generation Z, Millennials and Generation X accounted for a narrow majority of those voters, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available Census Bureau data.

Democrats aim not-so-friendly fire at Trump over military deferments  —  President Trump, who has touted himself as an unmatched ally of military veterans, is facing pointed new attacks from Democratic presidential candidates who question his medical deferment from service in Vietnam — and, in turn, his patriotism and integrity.

Manning Assange WikiLeaks - EDVA Volume 1  —  Manning + Assange + Lamo = Oh God.. National Security Damaged  —  I've purposefully waited to dissect this trifecta.  The complexity and dynamic of the Manning and Assange relationship, left me with a lot of questions.. Oddly it was difficult for me to wrap my head around this issue.

Can Jaime Harrison End the Democrats' Drought in South Carolina?  —  The Times talked to Mr. Harrison, the first black chairman of the state's Democratic Party, about his bid to unseat Senator Lindsey Graham.  —  Let's begin with the obvious: No Democrat has won a statewide race in South Carolina since 2006.

Trump's 2020 plan to target black, Hispanic and suburban female voters  —  Trump campaign officials have been discussing a digital campaign to boost President Trump's 2020 support among three key demographic groups: African Americans, Hispanics and suburban women, two sources familiar with the plan tell Axios.

How Many Bones Would You Break to Get Laid?  “Incels” are going under the knife to reshape their faces, and their dating prospects.  —  Truth4lie was 27, depressed, and living in a student apartment after a year in a psychiatric hospital on suicide watch when a friend showed him Neil Strauss's pickup-artist guidebook, The Game.

Slate Hires Ashley Feinberg  —  The ex-HuffPost political reporter has become well-known for breaking bizarre stories that are unique to our extremely online times.  —  Slate is hiring one of the most well-known digital political reporters as the site bulks up for the 2020 presidential election.

Adachi leak case: Police executed seven search warrants on cops, journalist  —  San Francisco police executed seven search warrants as they tried to find out who leaked a police report to a freelance journalist, including searches of officers and one of the journalist's phone records, police officials and an attorney in the case said.

China Gears Up to Weaponize Rare Earths in Trade War  —  (Bloomberg) — Beijing is gearing up to use its dominance of rare earths to hit back in its deepening trade war with Washington.  —  A flurry of Chinese media reports on Wednesday, including an editorial in the flagship newspaper …