Wednesday News: Mark Warner on Trump Jr.’s “Rookie Mistake”; Trump White House in “Chaos”; GOP “Failing at Governing. And They Know It”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, July 12.

• White House plunges into chaos as Trump fumes over fallout from son’s Russia revelations (“President Trump is enraged that the Russia cloud still hangs over his presidency and, now, over his family. The disclosure of an email exchange showing that Donald Trump Jr. welcomed the assistance of a “Russian government attorney” — a revelation that a Trump ally likened to a ‘Category 5 hurricane’ — has set back the administration’s agenda and rattled the senior leadership team.”)
• Trump Jr. on Russians’ Offer: ‘I Love It’ (“Email Specifies Tie to Moscow in Effort to ‘Incriminate Hillary’”)
• Rancor at White House as Russia Story Refuses to Let the Page Turn
• White House aides feeling ‘helpless’ as Trump Jr. scandal blossoms (“As West Wing staff grapples with the latest Russia controversy, the president is fuming about the negative coverage.”)
• Trump Jr.’s love affair with Moscow (“The president’s son spent far more time in the country than his father did, and developed personal ties there that continued beyond the November election.”)
• The Russia meddling story is no longer just smoke. It’s fire. (“Donald Trump Jr.’s damning interactions with Russians during the campaign.”)
• The other shoe has fallen, and the Trump presidency may fall with it (“If Trump knew of the collusion with Russia, this scandal would be bigger than Watergate.”)
• The Donald Trump Jr. emails change everything (“It is no longer possible to dismiss the Russia scandal as fake news.”)
• The Trump administration isn’t a farce. It’s a tragedy. (“Like Watergate, this is an era of low comedy and high fear.”)
• Trump administration: There’s no evidence of collusion. 12 legal experts: Yes, there is.
• This is no ‘rookie mistake.’ The Trump team shouldn’t even be on the field. (“Errors and outrages are so common that we’ve become numb to them.”)
• Senate GOP Can’t Even Agree On Asking Dems For Obamacare Repeal Help
• Donald Trump Jr. Makes the Russian Connection
• Republicans Are Failing at Governing. And They Know It. (“The decision to sacrifice some of the lawmakers’ coveted August recess was a public confession that Republicans have not gotten the job done even while controlling the White House and Congress. Results have been in short supply as they have gotten badly bogged down in trying to overhaul the health care law.”
• Senate G.O.P. Plans to Try Again With Revised Health Bill (“Senate leaders said that a revised bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would be unveiled on Thursday, then debated and voted on next week.”)
• Don Jr. Won’t Be Charged With ‘Collusion,’ But the Trump Team Could Be in Big Legal Trouble
• White House Infighting in Overdrive Following Latest Russia Controversy: Reports
• Are Donald Trump, Jr.’s E-mails About Meeting with a Russian Lawyer Evidence of a Crime?
• Is Donald Trump, Jr. Taking the Fall for the White House?
• Joe Scarborough Revealed That He’s Leaving the Republican Party on The Late Show (“My party has betrayed their core values”)
• THE MEMO: Crisis deepens for Trump White House
• The worst spin about Donald Trump Jr.’s emails (“The desperation of Trump’s top allies is understandable.”)
• The Four Big Scandals of the Trump Administration (“Collusion with Russia is just one of them.”)
• Fox’s chief intelligence correspondent edited out mention of Russian government when quoting Trump Jr. emails
• Collapsing house of cards: Should we be grateful for the shocking incompetence of Team Trump?
• McConnell’s health gambit ripples in Kentucky (“In his home state, the law has led to a drop in the rate of uninsured people from 20.4 percent of the state’s population in 2013 to 7.8 percent in 2016, according to Gallup — the largest reduction of any state in the country.”)
• The Everybody-Does-It Defense of Collusion (“After months of vehement denials, Trump supporters and surrogates are trying a new tack: If collusion occurred, it was no big deal.”)
• What If It’s All True? (“For months, President Trump and his aides have insisted that any suggestion of collusion with Russia was bogus. But if the Trump campaign was eager to receive information from the Russian government, what else might have happened?”)
• Sen. Mark Warner: Trump Jr. emails bring probe to “whole ‘nother level”
• Sen. Warner: I don’t accept Donald Trump Jr. ‘rookie mistake’ defense
• Editorial: PACs have outsized voice in elections (“Where did the group get the more than $184,000 it ultimately poured into the Democratic primary? Who anted up that war chest? Can voters expect to see that group reappear in October and November, as the campaign enters its final stretch?”)
• Schapiro: On taxes, pols cut corners, raise expectations
• For D.C. area, demise of FBI plan means ‘a lot of time and energy wasted’
• The cancellation of a new FBI headquarters is illogical and embarrassing (“The U.S. government‘s decision will be costly in the long term.”)
• Showtime’s ‘Homeland’ will film in Richmond area this year
• Dominion Energy gets approval to build power line across James River (Hey, but they’re building two wind turbines by 2021, so all is forgiven! LOL)
• James City County supervisors approve switching station for controversial transmission line over James River
• Virginia first to join public safety broadband network
• Editorial: Will Virginia tolerate Third World infrastructure in its rural areas?
• Virginia Beach City Council approves study to examine whether enough city contracts are given to minorities
• Fisette: Arlington County Should Eventually Become a City
• Pipeline survey crew surprises Bent Mountain landowners with early morning entry
• Attorneys for Charlottesville: State code doesn’t apply to Lee statue
• Charlottesville police chief says use of tear gas at KKK protest was appropriate
• D.C.-area forecast: Heating up, and staying humid; scorching highs near 100 possible tomorrow