- War between the White House and Congress! Vice President Mike Pence‘s chief of staff, Nick Ayers, suggested that there needs to be a “purge” of Republican lawmakers who are not loyal to President Trump. He called on wealthy donors to withhold campaign funds from those lawmakers unless they fall in line behind the president. As you might imagine, Congressional leaders are not pleased with the remarks [Politico].
- Wow! Secretary of State Rex Tillerson threatened to resign this past summer, requiring an intervention from Vice President Mike Pence. Tillerson reportedly referred to Trump as a “moron” following a July meeting with Trump and his national security team [NBC News].
- More Republicans in the Senate are willing to publicly rebuke President Trump, which could jeopardize tax reform [Politico].
- Russia investigation: Some of the Russian-linked Facebook ads targeted voters in Michigan and Wisconsin, two states President Donald Trump barely won which played a crucial role in his Electoral College win in 2016 [CNN].
- Las Vegas:
- The gunman who killed 59 people at a country music concert meticulously planned his assault over three days, setting up cameras in the hallway outside of the hotel room where he fired on the crowd to warn him when police started to close in [New York Times].
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. Pictures of the crime scene have leaked online (don’t click if you are easily upset) [Daily Mail].
- Here’s a tick-tock of how police zeroed in on the shooter’s room as he continued to fire into the crowd [Washington Post].
- The shooter was prescribed an anti-anxiety drug earlier this summer that could lead to aggressive behavior [Las Vegas Review-Journal].
- President Donald Trump plans to visit Las Vegas on Wednesday to meet with survivors of the massacre [Associated Press].
- Drain the swamp? House Speaker Paul Ryan asked the Trump White House to reconsider the ouster of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who resigned last week over his use of private aircraft for travel. Ryan is a longtime friend of Price [Politico].
- The White House plans to seek a $29 billion disaster aid package from Congress [Associated Press].
- President Donald Trump vows he will help Puerto Rico get out from under the crippling $73 billion debt to aid in their disaster relief efforts, but it’s unclear if he has the power to do that [New York Times].
- New poll #1: Americans are increasingly trusting of the press, despite President Trump branding the media as “the enemy” [Reuters].
- New poll #2: 48% of Americans say they approve of the president’s tax reform proposal [Politico].
- Facepalm! The IRS awards a $7.25 million, no-bid contract to Equifax to help prevent taxpayer fraud [Politico].
- Charles Goodwin, who President Donald Trump nominated to serve as a US district judge, has received a “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association [BuzzFeed].
- Ugh. Staunch pro-life GOP Rep. Tim Murphy suggested a woman he had an extramarital affair with have an abortion after he allegedly got her pregnant [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette].
- GOP Rep. Steve King employs family members as full-time campaign staffers, which is an unusual move for a member of Congress [Des Moines Register].
On this day in history:
- 1927 – Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.
- 1957 – The launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
- 2006 – Wikileaks is launched by Julian Assange.
