The Confusion Surrounding the F.B.I.’s Renewed Investigation of Brett Kavanaugh newyorker.com/news/news-desk… With a one-week deadline looming over the investigation, some who say they have information relevant to the F.B.I.’s probe are suspicious that the investigation will amount to what one of Kavanaugh’s former Yale classmates called a “whitewash.”

A senior Republican senator is quietly supporting the closure of a legal loophole that allows federal and state governments to prosecute someone for the same crime. The case could have implications for the Russia investigation, @NatashaBertrand reports: theatlantic.com/politics/archi… "Republican senator Orrin Hatch, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, filed a 44-page amicus brief earlier this month in Gamble v. United States, a case that will consider whether the dual-sovereignty doctrine should be put to rest."

Bruce Ohr Fought Russian Organized Crime. Now He’s a Target of Trump. nyti.ms/2MNxhiz "Those who know Mr. Ohr seem perplexed that the president has singled him out. Co-workers and former associates describe him as a scrupulous government official who cares deeply about the Justice Department."

Manhattan D.A. Eyes Criminal Charges Against Trump Organization nyti.ms/2o3rd7t "The Manhattan district attorney’s office is considering pursuing criminal charges against the Trump Organization and two senior company officials in connection with Michael D. Cohen’s hush money payment to an adult film actress"

Trump is on film saying the things he says - or won't say. Coddling and deferring to Putin in front of the world. Refusing to defend our national security in front of the world. /1 Trump's Twitter feed is a seemingly endless stream of distortions, lies, deliberate twisting of facts, racist dog whistles, attacks on our intelligence community, and divisive HATE. Just straight up lying Hate. /2

NSA and Cyber Command to coordinate actions to counter Russian election interference in 2018 amid absence of White House guidance wapo.st/2zOfy5g?tid=ss… “Nakasone, and the heads of the other three-letter agencies, are doing what they can in their own lanes, absent an overall approach directed by the president,” said Michael V. Hayden, who has headed the NSA and the CIA.

Shortly after he took office, Trump began passing out his person cell number to a handful of foreign leaders washingtonpost.com/politics/ahead… "In April 2017, White House aides were startled when officials in Canada issued a standard summary of a conversation between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump."

White House counsel McGahn recused his office from Mueller probe politi.co/2LQf93t "McGahn and at least two of his top aides, chief of staff Ann Donaldson and former senior associate counsel James Burnham, have sat for interviews with Mueller."

Two years after ditching the @GOP and their new alt-right mandate of Hating Liberals as some kind of virtue, it is interesting to look at the RNC as a whole and wonder what the point is. It obviously isn't small government and fiscal responsibility. /1 And frankly it's hard to keep a straight face on the National Security Hawk GOP thing when they are excusing Russia and coddling Wikileaks/Assange /2

A Secret Mission, a Code Name and Anxiety: Inside the Early Days of the F.B.I.’s Trump Investigation nyti.ms/2GpbIgM "Agents considered, then rejected, interviewing key Trump associates, which might have sped up the investigation but risked revealing the existence of the case."

Qatari investor accused in bribery plot appears with Michael Cohen in picture posted by Stormy Daniel's lawyer motherjones.com/politics/2018/… via @MotherJones "Members of the Trump transition team appear to have met on December 12, 2016 with a group from Qatar that included Ahmed al-Rumaihi"

House Intel Committee Findings Contradict Kushner’s Testimony justsecurity.org/54408/house-in… via @just_security "When Kushner read the report’s “Finding #32” he was surely disappointed. That’s because the Committee’s stated conclusion contradicts Kushner’s written statement to Congress concerning the important June 9 meeting with Russians in Trump Tower."