I wasn’t following the news so closely last week, so I might have missed a few things. Here’s what I got–at least the week started off with a bang!

Russia:

1. Sources say that in Trump’s meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak last week, he described information related to ISIS threats around laptops in airplanes, highly classified information that jeopardizes an intelligence source. The  arrangement with the source is sensitive, and it’s restricted from our allies and within our government. Trump’s revelation endangers future cooperation. In other words, we’ve shared more info with Russia than with our own allies.
2. McMaster and others state that Trump didn’t disclose anything that wasn’t public to the Russians. Trump’s subsequent tweets indicate that he did.
3. Some foreign officials suggest they’ll stop sharing secrets with the U.S.
4. The source of the information Trump disclosed turns out to be based in Israel.
5. Putin offers to give us a copy of their transcripts of the meeting to prove that classified material wasn’t discussed.
6. Trump indicates that he records all his conversations, so Congress requests those recordings, especially after his disclosure during his meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak.
7. Memos written by Comey after his meetings with Trump indicate that Trump had asked him to lay off the Flynn investigation.
8. The Justice Department names a special counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, to oversee the probe into Russia’s meddling in the election.
9. During the last seven months of last year’s elections, Trump campaign advisors, including Michael Flynn, had contact with Russian officials and Kremlin ties at least 18 times.
10. We learn that Flynn had informed the Trump campaign weeks before he was made security advisor that Flynn was under investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey.
11. Trump tweets his anger about the appointment of a special prosecutor.
    • “With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel appointed!”
    • “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”
12. In an interview, Trump says, “I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”
13. A recording of a discussion between Republican representatives is publicized in which Kevin McCarthy jokes that Trump is being paid by Putin, and Paul Ryan says they should never talk about it.
14. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), chair of the House Oversight Committee, requests all “memoranda, notes, summaries and recordings” of Trump and Comey’s communications.
15. Investigators into Russia coordination with the Trump campaign says a current senior White House advisor is a person of interest and is under scrutiny.
16. White House lawyers begin preparing for an impeachment defense. Note that this is not an admission of wrongdoing; they just want to be ready.
17. After Rod Rosenstein briefed the Senate on the current state of the Russia investigation, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says that the Russia probe looks more like a criminal investigation than a counter-intelligence investigation.

Courts/Justice:

1. The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to reverse a lower court’s decision that North Carolina’s voter restriction laws are racially discriminatory. The court didn’t rule on the law itself, but rather refused to reinstate the law on a technicality. Either way, that means voter rights are safe for now. This case was North Carolina’s last-ditch attempt to save the Voter Identification Verification Act, which a previous judge said was blatantly discriminatory and was designed to disenfranchise Black voters with “almost surgical precision.”

Healthcare:

1. Senate Republicans plan to vote on their version of the healthcare bill by August, with no public debate.
2. Health insurance companies issue warnings about the uncertainties in the market and say that the administration is threatening to withhold payments to insurance companies unless they back the healthcare reform bill. Insurers are also planning dramatic increases in premiums because of the inconsistent guidance they are receiving. This uncertainty comes just as some markets are stabilizing, according to insurers and state regulators.
3. The Trump administration cut U.S. aid by about $8.8 billion to international healthcare providers that support abortion rights.

International:

1. NATO is working on ways to keep their upcoming meeting interesting and simple enough to hold Trump’s attention.
2. North Korea tests another type of ballistic missile. With this successful test they claim they can reach U.S. bases in the Pacific.
3. Trump hosts Turkish President Erdogan at the White House.
4. Erdogan’s security forces and supporters violently attack protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence, while Erdogan watched from the driveway.
5. The U.S. State Department accuses Syria of killing thousands of prisoners and burning their bodies at a crematorium. Syria denies this.
6. Trump names Callista Gingrich, Newt’s third wife, as the ambassador to the Vatican.
7. The US launches airstrikes against pro-Assad forces in southern Syria.
8. Moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani wins his second term in a landslide victory, which comes as a relief to most of the West because his conservative opponent campaigned against the Iran nuclear deal and for closing Iran’s economy off from the world again.
9. After interacting with Trump and his aides, foreign officials and consultants have come up with meeting guidelines.
   • Keep it short — no 30-minute monologue for a 30-second attention span.
   • Do not assume he knows the history of the country or its major points of contention.
   • Compliment him on his Electoral College victory.
   • Contrast him favorably with President Barack Obama.
   • Do not get hung up on whatever was said during the campaign.
   • Stay in regular touch.
   • Do not go in with a shopping list but bring some sort of deal he can call a victory. (NYT)
10. UAE and Saudi Arabia pledge $100 million to Ivanka’s charity, even though during the campaign last year, Trump criticized the Clinton Foundation for accepting money from countries that “want women as slaves and to kill gays.”
11. In his speech to Saudi Arabian officials, Trump claims to have achieved record spending on military, though his budget has not been passed through Congress.
12. In a reversal of his previous rhetoric on Islam, Trump calls Islam on the of the world’s great faiths in the same speech. A sample of previous statements on Islam:
    • “I think Islam hates us.”
    • He called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” to the U.S.
    • “There’s a sickness. They’re sick people.”

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. The 9th circuit court of appeals again hears Trump’s Muslim ban case.

Budget/Economy:

1. Trump announces his plan to renegotiate NAFTA. There’s a 90-day period during which Congress and the administration will confer on the plan, and negotiations with Canada and Mexico can begin August 16 of this year.
2. In trying to balance the budget, Senate Republicans look at cutting over $400 billion in benefits, including Medicaid, food stamps, welfare, and veterans’ benefits. The way they’re planning on implementing the changes avoids a Democratic filibuster.

Miscellaneous:

1. Trump doesn’t believe in exercising. He thinks our bodies have a finite amount of energy and that exercising too much depletes it.
2. Mitch McConnell calls for less drama from the White House.
3. James Clapper thinks that our institutions are under assault from the Trump administration and urges other branches of the government to step up their checks and balances.
4. Sheriff David Clarke, who is slated to become assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Security, is accused of plagiarizing his masters thesis, which he denies. Naval Postgraduate School is reviewing it. You might remember Clarke as the guy who once said Black Lives Matter might team up with ISIS.
5. The family of DNC staffer Seth Rich, who was murdered last year, sends a cease and desist order to Rod Wheeler, a Fox News contributor, after Wheeler alleged that Rich was responsible for leaking DNC emails to Wikileaks. Wheeler also alleged that the murder was related to the leaks despite no evidence of this.
6. Trump provides North Carolina with less than 1% of the emergency funds they requested for the massive cleanup effort after hurricane Matthew.
7. Mitch McConnell recommends Merrick Garland to replace Comey as FBI director; Garland would rather stay a judge. <opinion alert> How can he possibly think well enough of Garland to recommend him for this position, but not respect him enough to even give him a hearing for his appointment to the Supreme Court? Blatant partisanship, Mitch.
8. Misreported from last week: The news media indicated that there was only one photographer in Trump’s meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak. There was actually one Russian and one U.S. photographer allowed.
9. Under-reported from last week: Trump met with Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin on the same day that he met with Lavrov and Kislyak; a meeting in which Klimkin expressed appreciation for U.S. support of the Ukraine and protection against Russian aggression.
10. Roger Ailes, former media consultant to Republican presidents and formerly of Fox News, dies.