Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped to fund opposition research that resulted in a dossier that contained allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia. The file also detailed salacious allegations against Trump as well as possible coordination between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin [Washington Post].
Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake announces he will not seek re-election in 2018. During his speech announcing his retirement, Flake blasted President Donald Trump saying Trump’s behavior is “dangerous to our democracy” [Washington Post]. Flake also says he does not have the stomach for the kind of campaign he would have to run to win re-election next year. “The path that I would have to travel to get the Republican nomination is a path I’m not willing to take, and that I can’t in good conscience take” [Arizona Republic].
Congressional Republicans announce they are opening two new investigations into Hillary Clinton. One will focus on the Justice Department’s investigation into her handling of classified emails while she was Secretary of State. The other will probe the Obama administration’s approval of a 2010 agreement that gave a Russian-backed company control of much of the uranium in the U.S. [New York Times].
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is the subject of a new federal investigation into money laundering [ABC News].
House Speaker Paul Ryan says he plans to include a fix for the DACA program as part of a year-end spending bill [Huffington Post].
The U.S. Senate voted to roll back a rule that allowed American consumers to sue banks and credit card companies [Washington Post].
A new national poll finds most Americans think President Donald Trump is “reckless,” “thin-skinned,” and “dishonest” [Politico].
Scott Brown, the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand, is under investigation for inappropriate comments he made during a trip to Samoa. During a party he attended in the Samoan capital, Brown told attendees they looked “beautiful” and could make hundreds of dollars working in the hospitality industry if they came to the U.S. [The Guardian].
A new poll finds a majority of white Americans say they are discriminated against in America, but a much smaller number say they have actually experienced discrimination personally [NPR].
Kid Rock, who had been teasing a possible run for U.S. Senate in Michigan, says he was encouraged to run by former White House strategist Steve Bannon. The musician said earlier this week he was not serious about running [Daily Beast].
Be careful where you click today. There’s a new ransomware attack making the rounds posing as an Adobe update before locking down computers and demanding money to release files [CNN].
On this day in history:
1854 – Charge of the Light Brigade. 670 British cavalrymen fighting in the Crimean War attacked a heavily fortified Russian position and were killed.
1929 – During the Teapot Dome scandal, Albert B. Fall, who served as President Warren Harding’s interior secretary, was found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office. He was the first presidential Cabinet member convicted of a crime.
1944 – The Japanese military employed its first unit of Kamikaze pilots during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
1983 – U.S. troops invaded the tiny island of Grenada, rescuing 1,000 American students.
2002 – Democratic U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota was killed in a small plane crash about 180 miles northeast of Minneapolis.