Mass shootings fallout

• Following last weekend’s mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, President Donald Trump struck an optimistic tone about finding consensus on “meaningful background checks” and other gun reform, despite renewed resistance from the National Rifle Association. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said background checks and so-called “red flag” legislation will lead the discussion when lawmakers return from August recess, but John Barrasso of Wyoming, the third-ranking Senate Republican, voiced skepticism that GOP senators would support expanded background checks.

• Trump downplayed the public support for banning assault-style weapons like the ones used in the shootings, but a new Morning Consult/Politico poll found broad support for such a ban from seven in 10 voters, including 54 percent of Republicans. The survey also found 47 percent of voters say white nationalism is a critical threat to the country, up 10 points since March.

• National Rifle Association Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre spoke with Trump to express concerns about the president’s remarks in support of legislation to expand background checks for people purchasing guns, according to sources. Trump has said there “was great appetite for background checks,” but LaPierre told him the move would not be popular among his supporters and argued against the bill’s merits, the sources said.

• Trump compared his and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s crowd sizes at dueling February events in El Paso during a visit with medical staff in the city, according to a video that surfaced from the hospital. Trump visited the community Wednesday following a mass shooting this past weekend, and has privately expressed frustration that he has not gotten sufficient credit for his response and that news cameras were not with him in the hospital, according to sources.

• Democratic presidential candidates sought to lay the blame for the shooting on Trump, criticizing his rhetoric against immigrants and people of color.

Epstein dead

• Jeffrey Epstein, who was being held in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, hanged himself. Officials said the wealthy financier was not on suicide watch, despite the fact that he was found unconscious in his cell last month with marks on his neck.

The Trump administration

• Trump said he will name Joseph Maguire, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, as acting director of national intelligence. Trump also announced that Sue Gordon, the deputy director of national intelligence, would leave her job and not serve in the acting director role when Director Dan Coats departs this week.

• Trump said he is considering commuting the prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has served seven years of a 14-year prison sentence for multiple federal corruption convictions. Speaking with reporters, Trump said he thought the former Democratic governor had been treated “unbelievably unfairly.”

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested about 680 people who were believed to be working without authorization at seven food-processing plants in Mississippi. Nearly half of the people were released the next day, according to an agency spokesman, who said the people were placed into proceedings before the federal immigration courts and “will have their day in court at a later date.”

• The Trump administration labeled China a currency manipulator after the Chinese central bank let its country’s currency depreciate, capping a day of trade-war escalations between the two countries. The Treasury Department’s move is largely symbolic, requiring the government to consult with the International Monetary Fund to try to eliminate the unfair advantage Beijing’s currency measures have given the country.

• Trump urged the Federal Reserve to dramatically slash interest rates to weaken the U.S. dollar in the face of global economic turmoil. Trump also said next month’s round of negotiations with China could be canceled.

• Trump imposed new economic sanctions on the Venezuelan government as it seeks to have President Nicolás Maduro removed from office. Some experts predicted a modest economic effect from the sanctions, given that Trump has already repeatedly placed sanctions on Maduro’s government.

• Trump’s attorneys filed a lawsuit challenging a new California law that would bar presidential primary candidates from appearing on the ballot unless they release their tax returns. Republican Party officials were expected to join Trump’s legal action, which follows two other lawsuits challenging the law on similar grounds.

Congress

• During a CNN interview, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said publicly for the first time that his committee is conducting “formal impeachment proceedings” into Trump. Nadler has said his committee could recommend articles of impeachment by late fall if it decides to do so.

• Federal prosecutors in New York dropped three securities fraud charges against Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) and two against his son in order to avoid unnecessary pretrial litigation that could delay the case, according to a court filing. The two men still faces several federal charges stemming from the congressman’s alleged role in an insider trading scheme.

• Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said his 2022 reelection bid will be his last political race.

Campaigns

• Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and former state Supreme Court Justice Bill Waller Jr. will compete in a runoff for the Republican nomination for governor after neither candidate received a majority of the vote in the party’s primary on Tuesday. On the Democratic side, fourth-term Attorney General Jim Hood beat seven rivals for the party’s nod ahead of what’s expected to be a tough race this fall.

• Rep. Kenny Marchant announced he will not seek re-election next year, becoming the fourth Texas Republican who will leave Congress after the 2020 elections. Like some of the other Texas seats held by Republicans heading for the exits, Marchant’s district is viewed as competitive for Democrats hoping to pad their House majority, due in part to changing demographics.

• Trump’s re-election campaign, the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee said they will stop spending to advertise on Twitter after the company temporarily locked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign account until Friday. McConnell’s campaign had posted a video of violent threats against him, something the company said violated its “violent threats policy” but that Republicans view as an escalation of bias against conservatives.

• The House and Senate are in recess. McConnell has said he will not bring the Senate back into session to take up gun control legislation.

• Jon Huntsman told Trump he will step down as the U.S. ambassador to Russia in October amid reports that he is considering launching a third run for governor of Utah.

• A federal judge in Washington indicated he is considering removing nearly 1,000 redactions in Mueller’s 448-page report, expressing skepticism of the government’s argument to keep the lines as is.

1) Quiz: Let Us Predict Whether You’re a Democrat or a Republican
Sahil Chinoy, The New York Times

2) Trump’s openness to extensive background checks for gun buys draws warning from NRA
Josh Dawsey and Seung Min Kim, The Washington Post

3) Harris Loses Steam With Democratic Primary Voters After Detroit Debates
Eli Yokley, Morning Consult

4) Ivanka Aeternum
Vanessa Grigoriadis, New York Magazine

5) During El Paso hospital visit, Trump compared his and O’Rourke’s crowd sizes at political rallies, video shows
Josh Dawsey and Seung Min Kim, The Washington Post

6) Mayor Whaley ‘confused’ by Trump’s tweet about how she described his visit to Dayton
Thomas Gnau, Dayton Daily News

7) Iran Has Hundreds of Naval Mines. U.S. Navy Minesweepers Find Old Dishwashers and Car Parts.
Robert Faturechi et al., ProPublica

8) Immigrants lock doors, rally around children of detained
Jeff Amy and Rogelio V. Solis, The Associated Press

9) Trump Says There’s ‘No Political Appetite’ for an Assault Weapons Ban. There Is.
Eli Yokley, Morning Consult

10) ‘Red Flag’ Gun Control Bills Pick Up Momentum With G.O.P. in Congress
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times