Scoop: John Delaney's staffers have asked him to drop out  —  On July 9, John Delaney's senior team sat him down and told him to drop out of the presidential race by mid-August, according to three sources close to the campaign.  —  Why it matters: He's been running for president for 721 days.

Trump took heat from Melania and Ivanka over racist chants at rally  —  Washington — CBS News has learned President Trump took a lot of heat from his family over the racist chants at a campaign rally in North Carolina on Wednesday.  He heard from first lady Melania Trump, his daughter Ivanka and Vice President Mike Pence.

The Real Meaning of ‘Send Her Back!’  —  It's become the message of Donald Trump's presidency.  —  The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher.  It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.  —  Donald Trump insists he's not a racist.

The Movement to Impeach Donald Trump Is Far from Over  —  On Wednesday afternoon, Representative Al Green, who since 2005 has represented Texas's Ninth Congressional District, stood on the floor of the House of Representatives and read from a resolution to impeach Donald Trump.

Labor fight roils Bernie Sanders campaign, as workers demand the $15 hourly pay the candidate has proposed for employees nationwide  —  Unionized campaign organizers working for Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential effort are battling with its management, arguing that the compensation and treatment …

New Hampshire Lawmaker: 'Owning Slaves Doesn't Make You Racist'  —  GOP state Rep. Werner Horn told HuffPost that human beings have always owned other human beings, and “it's never been about race.”  —  New Hampshire state Rep. Werner Horn (R) doesn't think American slavery was racist …

George Nader, Witness in Mueller Probe, Hit With New Charges of Sex Trafficking  —  The key cooperator faces additional child-porn charges in a new indictment to be unsealed Friday.  —  George Nader, who was a key witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation …

Store clerk fired after telling customers to ‘go back to their country’ in viral video  —  In the midst of a national controversy about President Donald Trump's inflammatory tweets towards minority congresswomen, a store clerk at an Illinois convenience store has been fired after he was caught …

“I'm Winning”: Donald Trump's Calculated Racism  —  On Tuesday, President Trump convened his Cabinet in the White House.  First to speak after a long, rambling, and inaccuracy-filled monologue by Trump himself was Ben Carson, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Trump officials pressing to slash refugee admissions to zero next year  —  The Trump administration is considering a virtual shutdown of refugee admissions next year — cutting the number to nearly zero — according to three people familiar with the plan.  —  During a key meeting …

How the Ilhan Omar Marriage Smear Went From Fever Swamp to Trump  —  The curious journey of the unproven rumor that Omar married her brother to get him citizenship—from an obscure Somali diaspora forum to the president.  —  When Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that Rep. Ilhan Omar …

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema pushes program to streamline removal of migrant families without valid asylum claims  —  TUCSON — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is pushing for the implementation of a pilot program along the U.S.-Mexico border that aims to more quickly screen and remove migrant families without valid legal claims …

Trump's Base Isn't Enough  —  Buried beneath the blustery bravado of Donald Trump's openly racist attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color were clear signs of electoral anxiety.  —  Trump insists he is producing great results for the country, especially on the economy.

Justice Department Set to Free 3,000 Prisoners as Criminal-Justice Overhaul Takes Hold  —  U.S. is implementing First Step Act with releases, revamped policies  —  Derrick Walker was 13 years into a mandatory life sentence for crack cocaine possession when his case manager summoned …

Allies play hard to get on U.S. proposal to protect oil shipping lanes  —  DUBAI/PARIS (Reuters) - The United States is struggling to win its allies' support for an initiative to heighten surveillance of vital Middle East oil shipping lanes because of fears it will increase tension with Iran, six sources familiar with the matter said.

Defenders of a Racist President Use Jews as Human Shields  —  Trump's bigoted attack on four congresswomen of color has nothing to do with fighting anti-Semitism.  —  Sebastian Gorka, a onetime adviser to Donald Trump, wore a medal from the Vitezi Rend, a Hungarian group historically aligned with Nazism …

NBC News poll: Biden, Sanders and Warren lead 2020 field  —  The poll also shows President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked upward in the past 10 months.  —  Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading the pack of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, with Sens. Bernie Sanders …

Safe Deposit Boxes Aren't Safe  —  When Philip Poniz opened Box 105 at his local Wells Fargo, he discovered it was empty — and that he was totally unprotected by federal law.  —  In the early 1980s, when Philip Poniz moved to New Jersey from Colorado, he needed a well-protected place to stash his collection of rare watches.

Trump's supposed Secret Political Genius is overblown  —  Ever since Donald Trump shocked the world by winning the presidency in 2016, there has been a premium on political pundits and journalists locating his Secret Political Genius.  This long-running search is irresistible for three main reasons …

O'Hare Standoff: Federal Officials Detaining Three Children Of Undocumented Parents  —  Chicago lawyers, a representative from the Mexican Consulate and a congresswoman from Illinois have all met with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to find out why three American citizen children are being detained at O'Hare Airport.

Anxious Democratic Governors Urge 2020 Field Not to Veer Too Far Left  —  WASHINGTON — After claiming governorships from Republicans in seven states last year, including in crucial presidential battlegrounds like Wisconsin and Michigan, Democratic governors should have good reason to celebrate.

Rabbi in Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's district compares Trump rally to ‘Nazi Germany’  —  Faith leaders in Rep. Ilhan Omar's home district are standing firmly behind her in the face of attacks from President Trump, despite disagreeing with some of her comments on Israel.

Donald Trump Hates America  —  The rest of us can love America well.  —  So apparently Donald Trump wants to make this an election about what it means to be American.  He's got his vision of what it means to be American, and he's challenging the rest of us to come up with a better one.

Prosecutors weighed DOJ policy blocking indictment of a sitting president in closing Trump hush-money probe  —  WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors' decision to end an investigation into hush money payments to women claiming affairs with Donald Trump relied at least in part …

Matthew Rosenberg and Glenn Thrush Join Political Investigations  —  We are excited to announce that Matthew Rosenberg and Glenn Thrush will be turning their considerable talents to political investigations.  Read more in this note from Patrick Healy and Paul Fishleder.

‘An abomination’: Jon Stewart blasts Rand Paul for blocking 9/11 victims bill  —  “Pardon me if I'm not impressed in any way by Rand Paul's fiscal responsibility virtue signaling,” Stewart said.  —  Comedian Jon Stewart, an outspoken advocate for 9/11 first responders, blasted Sen. Rand Paul …

The Southern Path to a Democratic Win in 2020  —  The lion's share of discussion about the states Democrats need to win to take back the White House in 2020 has focused on the trio of Midwestern states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.  Those states do indeed present the clearest path …

Catholics in Iowa went to church.  Steve Bannon tracked their phones.  —  Steve Bannon and the conservative group CatholicVote used cell-phone location data for people who had been inside Roman Catholic churches in Dubuque, Iowa, in 2018 to target them with get-out-the-vote ads, ThinkProgress has learned.

The Times' obscene attacks on the Apollo program  —  As America prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, The New York Times is busy celebrating the Soviet space program and bashing America's.  —  A Times op-ed Thursday highlighted how the Soviet Union was oh-so-diverse …

Smarting from import tariffs, Mercer County steelmaker furloughs 80 to 100  —  A Mercer County steel plant, roiled by U.S. tariffs on imported metals, has furloughed between 80 and 100 workers, with more layoffs possible in the coming weeks.  —  The steelworkers were laid off the first week …