• Republican disarray on coronavirus funding talks burst into the open one day after the release of the Senate GOP’s opening offer for a new relief package, with President Donald Trump calling the bill “sort of semi-irrelevant” and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) disavowing an administration effort to include funding for a new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Congress may have to pass a stand-alone measure to extend an expanded unemployment benefit set to expire Friday. (The Washington Post)

• The Trump administration will bar new applicants to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program while it considers ending the Obama-era program that protects from deportation people who were brought to the country illegally as children. The Supreme Court had previously rejected an attempt by the administration to cancel DACA citing concerns over the process used to arrive at the decision. (The Wall Street Journal)

• Trump said that in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he never raised the issue of whether Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers. U.S. intelligence officials had reportedly included information on the alleged plot in the president’s daily briefing, but Trump said in the interview that the issue “never reached my desk.” (Axios)

• Former Vice President Joe Biden said he will pick a running mate next week ahead of his formal coronation as the Democratic presidential nominee later next month. (USA Today)

Russian Intelligence Agencies Push Disinformation on Pandemic
Julian E. Barnes and David E. Sanger, The New York Times

Russian intelligence services have been spreading disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, according to newly declassified intelligence, material that demonstrates how Moscow is continuing to try to influence Americans as the election draws closer. Russian military intelligence, known as the G.R.U., has used its ties with a Russian government information center, InfoRos, and other websites to push out English-language disinformation and propaganda about the pandemic, such as amplifying false Chinese arguments that the virus was created by the United States military and articles that said Russia’s medical assistance could bring a new détente with Washington.

How Brett Kavanaugh tried to sidestep abortion and Trump financial docs cases
Joan Biskupic, CNN

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh urged his colleagues in a series of private memos this spring to consider avoiding decisions in major disputes over abortion and Democratic subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s financial records, according to multiple sources familiar with the inner workings of the court. In the abortion controversy, Kavanaugh wanted the justices to sidestep any ruling on the merits of a Louisiana law that could have closed abortion clinics in the state, CNN has learned.

Maya Wiley Is Leaving MSNBC to Weigh Run for N.Y.C. Mayor
Emma G. Fitzsimmons, The New York Times

Maya D. Wiley, a former top counsel for Mayor Bill de Blasio, is leaving her role as a contributor on MSNBC and NBC News to explore a run for mayor of New York City, an official at MSNBC confirmed on Tuesday. Ms. Wiley, a Black former chairwoman of the city’s police oversight agency, could enter a mayor’s race that has been reshaped by recent Black Lives Matter protests and the coronavirus pandemic.

“Defendant Shall Not Attend Protests”: In Portland, Getting Out of Jail Requires Relinquishing Constitutional Rights
Dara Lind, ProPublica

Federal authorities are using a new tactic in their battle against protesters in Portland, Oregon: arrest them on offenses as minor as “failing to obey” an order to get off a sidewalk on federal property — and then tell them they can’t protest anymore as a condition for release from jail. Legal experts describe the move as a blatant violation of the constitutional right to free assembly, but at least 12 protesters arrested in recent weeks have been specifically barred from attending protests or demonstrations as they await trials on federal misdemeanor charges.

Twitter penalizes Donald Trump Jr. for posting hydroxychloroquine misinformation amid coronavirus pandemic
Rachel Lerman et al., The Washington Post

Twitter on Tuesday penalized Donald Trump Jr. for posting misinformation about hydroxychloroquine, the social media giant said, underlining the tough stance it has taken in policing misleading posts from high-profile users, including President Trump, in recent months. Twitter said that it ordered the president’s son to delete the misleading tweet and that it would “limit some account functionality for 12 hours.”

‘Nobody Likes Me,’ Trump Complains, Renewing Defense of Dubious Science
Michael Crowley, The New York Times

President Trump devolved into self-pity during a White House coronavirus briefing on Tuesday, lamenting that his approval ratings were lower than those of two top government medical experts. Just over a week after he began a rebooted effort, driven by rising infection rates and sinking poll numbers, to talk about the virus in terms more in line with medical consensus, Mr. Trump was again making unfounded claims and defending discredited medical experts.

From the Start, Federal Agents Demanded a Role in Suppressing Anti-Racism Protests
Zolan Kanno-Youngs et al., The New York Times

From the earliest days of the recent protests against police brutality and racism, some top federal law enforcement officials viewed the demonstrators with alarm and called for an aggressive federal response that two months later continues to escalate. A memo from the deputy director of the F.B.I., dated June 2, demanded an immediate mobilization as protests gathered after George Floyd’s death while in police custody a week earlier.

Republicans raise concerns TikTok could be used by Chinese government interfere in elections
Maggie Miller, The Hill

A group of Republican senators led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Tuesday raised concerns that popular social media app TikTok could be used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to spread disinformation around U.S. elections. The lawmakers – who also included Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) – wrote to the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence raising concerns that the app could be used by China to interfere in American elections.

‘Not a fan’: Ted Cruz says Trump tweets ‘coarsened discussion’
David M. Drucker, The Washington Examiner

Sen. Ted Cruz said President Trump’s combative tone and provocative rhetoric, at times, poison public debate and prove politically counterproductive to enacting an otherwise praiseworthy agenda. “I wish his tone and some of the things he said were different,” the Texas Republican said Tuesday in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

House Democrats yank Homeland Security spending bill from floor
Caitlin Emma and Sarah Ferris, Politico

House Democrats on Tuesday were forced to pull their Homeland Security spending bill from the floor just days before it was slated for a vote, after it faced strong blowback from both progressives and centrists within the caucus. Dozens of vulnerable Democrats in swing districts as well as progressives had threatened to torpedo the measure in recent days: The moderates argued the bill went too far in cracking down on immigration enforcement, while liberals argued it didn’t do nearly enough to rein in the Trump administration’s draconian policies.

Hoyer says Democrats aren’t demanding ‘$600 or bust’ in unemployment stimulus talks
Devan Cole, CNN

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday that Democrats are willing to agree to a new coronavirus stimulus package that doesn’t include an extension of an extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits, saying the party’s position is not “$600 or bust.” In four days, the extra benefits are set to expire for millions of Americans who have been receiving them amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Democrats seek to shame Barr over politics at the Justice Department
Devlin Barrett et al., The Washington Post

Democrats clashed with Attorney General William P. Barr on Tuesday at a congressional hearing marked by angry recriminations over racial justice protests in Portland, Ore., and around the country, as the nation’s top law enforcement official said additional agents were needed to subdue aggressive, violent crowds. The hearing before the House Judiciary Committee was acrimonious from the outset, as liberal lawmakers accused the conservative attorney general of politicizing the Justice Department through his deployment of federal agents to U.S. cities, his involvement in high-profile prosecutions of people connected to President Trump, and his posture toward the upcoming presidential election.

Park Police head defends Lafayette Square tactics, admits missing files
Benjamin J. Hulac, Roll Call

The head of the U.S. Park Police defended the officers under his command for aggressively clearing a group of largely peaceful protesters away from the White House on June 1, telling a House committee Tuesday that the use of force was appropriate. He denied that the operation was linked to a presidential photo opportunity and said radio records of the department’s activities for the incident do not exist.

Democrats Investigating Why White House Ended Ban on Some Gun Silencer Sales
Kenneth P. Vogel, The New York Times

Congressional Democrats said on Tuesday that they were investigating the Trump administration’s decision to lift a ban on firearm silencer sales to foreign private buyers that had been enacted to prevent the devices from being used against American troops. Democrats are focusing in part on the involvement of Michael B. Williams, a White House lawyer who had worked for two years for a trade group representing silencer manufacturers that had lobbied to overturn the ban.

‘I wasn’t hiding the ball.’ Watkins admits voting at wrong address, but denies intent
Bryan Lowry, The Kansas City Star

Rep. Steve Watkins denied Tuesday that he blamed his staff for registering him to vote at a Topeka UPS store, but he also described the completion of his voter form as a “collegial effort.” In a 29-minute interview with The Star, Watkins, R-Kansas, acknowledged he voted in the wrong city council district in 2019 despite claiming no wrongdoing.

Complaint Says Trump Campaign Payments Broke Rules
Julie Bykowicz, The Wall Street Journal

President Trump’s re-election effort is alleged to have paid more than $170 million to companies affiliated with former campaign manager Brad Parscale without disclosing the ultimate recipients of the money, a campaign-finance oversight group says in a new complaint. The Campaign Legal Center says in the complaint filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission that other records show the campaign has used an external firm to buy TV and radio advertising, but that company isn’t named in disclosure filings, nor were some other vendors that have been publicly connected to the campaign.

Republican China Hawks Secretly Approaching Team Biden
Erin Banco and Hanna Trudo, The Daily Beast

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign is expanding its months of back-channel outreach to Republicans, with a new goal to hit President Donald Trump on one of his signature issues: China. Team Biden has recently launched a new public effort to attack Trump on the trade deal he made with Chinese President Xi Jinping—a pact that the Democrats say fails to compel Beijing to buy significantly more American goods.

Michigan Threatens to Slip From Trump as He Goes Quiet on Airwaves
Shane Goldmacher and Kathleen Gray, The New York Times

President Trump’s campaign has quietly receded from the television airwaves in Michigan in recent weeks, shifting money elsewhere as one of the key Midwestern states that powered his surprise victory in 2016 threatens to move more firmly back into the Democratic column in 2020. Michigan began the year with expectations that it would be one of the most intense battlegrounds in the country, but its share of Trump television advertising dollars dwindled this summer as Joseph R. Biden Jr. built a steady advantage in the polls.

Lincoln Project’s $4 million ad blitz targets Alaska, Maine and Montana Senate seats
Mike Allen, Axios

The Lincoln Project, a group founded by “never Trump” Republicans that has produced some of the cycle’s most memorable ads, today begins spending $4 million to blitz Senate races in Alaska, Maine and Montana.

Scores of House Republicans are suddenly sweating over losing their seats
Ally Mutnick, Politico

A slew of dismal summer polls and a persistent fundraising gap have left some Republicans fretting about a nightmare scenario in November: That they will fall further into the House minority. Publicly, House GOP leaders are declaring they can still net the 17 seats needed to flip the chamber.

The nastiest Republican primary in the country
Alex Thompson and James Arkin, Politico

So much for Southern hospitality. This fall, Tennessee will say goodbye to retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander, one of the last of the genteel Republican moderates in the chamber.

Democrats Score Court Wins to Make Voting by Mail Easier
Erik Larson, Bloomberg

Democrats on Tuesday notched two victories in lawsuits aimed at making it easier to vote by mail during the pandemic. The state of Rhode Island agreed to eliminate witness or notary requirements for people voting by mail throughout the 2020 elections due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Source: US, Oregon in talks about pulling agents in Portland
Gillian Flaccus et al., The Associated Press

The Trump administration has started talks with the Oregon governor’s office and indicated that it would begin to draw down the presence of federal agents sent to quell two months of chaotic protests in Portland if the state stepped up its own enforcement, a senior White House official said Tuesday. The official stressed to The Associated Press that the talks with the office of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown are in the early stages and there is no agreement.

California could create its own $600 weekly unemployment benefit
Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to damage the California economy, state lawmakers are weighing whether to provide a supplemental unemployment benefit with the extra $600 per week provided by the federal government expiring this month. Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), the leader of a legislative working group, said there is support among Democratic lawmakers for providing up to $600 weekly to jobless Californians if Congress fails to act on extending the federal pandemic benefit.

California sues Trump to ensure undocumented immigrants are counted
Jeremy B. White, Politico

California is suing the Trump administration to block an order that would exclude undocumented immigrants from counting toward congressional apportionment. The lawsuit argues that the Trump administration is defying centuries of precedent while violating the Constitution.

GOP asks Supreme Court to reinstate Arizona voting rules deemed racially biased
John Kruzel, The Hill

Arizona Republicans on Wednesday will ask the Supreme Court for permission to revive a pair of voting restrictions, struck down by a lower court as racially discriminatory, that could make it harder for people of color to cast ballots in the battleground state this fall. The request to reinstate the controversial policies is backed by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) and more than a half-dozen GOP senators, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Hogan’s memoir says backlash to Trump era could open the door for GOP moderates — like himself
Erin Cox, The Washington Post

In his new memoir, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan first describes President Trump as an irritating distraction, elected midway through the moderate Republican’s first term leading a deep-blue state. Then Trump becomes the most serious threat to Hogan’s 2018 reelection.

Tech giants invoke American dream to defend their power
Hannah Murphy et al., Financial Times

Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet and Apple will trumpet their credentials as all-American success stories to counter claims they unfairly stifle competition, as their chief executives face a grilling in Congress on Wednesday.

America’s Elections Are Becoming Contaminated With Untraceable Cash
Lachlan Markay, The Daily Beast

Late last year, an obscure New Jersey plumbing company dumped a quarter of a million dollars into Senate Republicans’ top super PAC. Who, exactly, was behind the donation remains a mystery.

Oil and Gas Groups See ‘Some Common Ground’ in Biden Energy Plan
Clifford Krauss and Ivan Penn, The New York Times

Joseph R. Biden Jr. won over environmentalists and liberals when he announced a $2 trillion plan to promote electric vehicles, energy efficiency and other policies intended to address climate change. But the plan released on July 14 has also earned a measure of support from an unexpected source: the oil and gas industry that is closely aligned with the Trump administration and is a big source of campaign contributions to the president.

Trump’s Attack on an Accurate Census Is Another Example of Contemporary Voter Suppression
Nicholas Espíritu and Sonja Diaz, Morning Consult

Just days after Rep. John Lewis’s death, President Donald Trump has chosen to honor his legacy of fighting for voting rights by doubling down on his racist and unconstitutional attempts to effectively disenfranchise voters of color whose strength continues to grow. With so much at stake in this critical election year, Congress must act now to protect the integrity of the census and ensure fair representation for all. The latest executive order out of the White House is devious in its efforts to suppress the vote. 

Are the Polls Missing Republican Voters?
Nate Cohn, The New York Times

With polls showing Joe Biden holding a commanding lead, one question keeps popping up: Are these polls missing Trump voters?

Three Tests for the Future of the Republican Party
William Kristol, The Bulwark

Life is a learning experience. Even the three months before a presidential election.

Suburbanites Aren’t Big on the Federal Government’s Portland Presence
Cameron Easley, Morning Consult

The deployment of federal agents in Portland, Ore., earlier this month represents one part of President Donald Trump’s effort to establish himself as the law-and-order candidate in a bid to curry favor with suburban voters ahead of Election Day. But new polling shows that more of those Americans object to that government presence than approve of it, raising questions about the viability of the strategy.