Following Donald Trump Jr.’s astounding decision to self-publish an email chain that demonstrated the Trump campaign’s willingness to receive Russian assistance, the president released a short statement via deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at an off-camera briefing: “My son is a high quality person and I applaud his transparency.” Oh, really? Okay, never mind then, I guess. [Politico]
Meanwhile, various congressional committees are reportedly jostling to be the first to interview Don Jr. in what will almost certainly be an explosively stupid exchange. [The Hill]
We’re rolling rather quickly into the time-tested “let’s not blame the rich man, he was just being stupid” argument. [Twitter]
Republicans’ skills of evasion are being sorely tested by this latest gut punch out of the White House. Sen. Orrin Hatch, for example, called Don Jr. a “very nice young man” (oh?) who is “very dedicated to his father”; Hatch described this dedication of the Trump children as a positive reflection of their father, particularly since “he divorced their mothers.” No, Sen. Hatch said, he himself would not have taken that meeting. [New York Times]
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has delayed the Senate’s August recess for two weeks “in order to provide more time to complete action on important legislative items and process nominees that have been stalled by a lack of cooperation from our friends across the aisle.” Sounds like a blast. [NBC]
Scott Pruitt wants a televised debate between scientists on the science behind climate change. [The Hill]
Jeff Sessions, a man who deeply and thoroughly believes he is living in the 1980s, would like to bring back another thoroughly ineffective waste of resources: D.A.R.E. [New York Daily News]
Here are some tweets the president was allowed to publish:
