Politics

In an otherwise boring day, Trump sparked some excitement earlier today when he announced that he will make a "very big announcement" during a planned rally in West Virginia tonight. Moments ago, the NYT spoiled the surprise when it unveiled what the announcement is: West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Democrat who was elected last year even as President Trump carried the state by 42 points, is expected to announce Thursday night at a rally with Mr. Trump that he is changing parties.

Update: Reuters adds that Grand Jury subpoenas have been issued in connection with the June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Russian Lawyer and others.

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Two separate bills - both with bipartisan backing from two Senate Judiciary Committee members - are being put forth to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's job. As NBC News reports, the new legislation aims to ensure the integrity of current and future independent investigations, and "ensuring that the special counsel cannot be removed improperly is critical to the integrity of his investigation."

Trump Will Now Become the War President

Paul Craig Roberts

President Trump has been defeated by the military/security complex and forced into continuing the orchestrated and dangerous tensions with Russia. Trump’s defeat has taught the Russians the lesson I have been trying to teach them for years, and that is that Russia is much more valuable to Washington as an enemy than as a friend.

Authored by Conor Beck via FreeBeacon.com,

The New Yorker has released audio of the profanity-filled phone call between reporter Ryan Lizza and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci that helped lead to the latter's firing.

Lizza on Thursday discussed the widely reported call with David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker. The two listened to excerpts from the Scaramucci conversation and analyzed what they said about the Trump administration.

Below is audio of the call and of Remnick's segment with Lizza.