WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, July 18, 2019

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1/ The FBI believed that then-candidate Trump was closely involved in the plan to the hide hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, according to previously redacted federal search warrants made public following the conclusion of the probe into Michael Cohen's campaign finance crimes. The documents describe a "series of calls, text messages, and emails" between Cohen, Trump, Hope Hicks, Keith Davidson – an attorney for Daniels – Dylan Howard – the National Enquirer editor – and David Pecker, an executive of the company that published the National Enquirer. It's the first time that the authorities have identified Trump by name regarding his alleged involvement in the scheme. Authorities previously referred to Trump in court filings as "Individual 1." Last August, Cohen admitted to making $280,000 in illegal payments through a shell company to buy the silence of Daniels and McDougal. In April 2018, Trump claimed that he didn't know anything about the hush money payment to Daniels. (NBC News / The Guardian / Washington Post / Reuters / CNN / Daily Beast / Wall Street Journal)

• Federal prosecutors signaled that it's unlikely they would file additional charges in the hush-money investigation, saying they had "effectively concluded" their inquiry. (New York Times)

2/ Trump continued his racist call for a congresswoman to "go back" to Somalia during a campaign rally as the crowd chanted "send her back." Rep. Ilhan Omar is a U.S. citizen and Somalian refugee, and is one of four congresswomen of color Trump attacked on Twitter over the weekend, telling them to "go back" to their countries. The other three were born in the United States. "If they don't love it," Trump told the crowd, "tell them to leave it." Trump paused to allow the "send her back" chant and did nothing to discourage the crowd. The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission includes "Go back to where you came from" as one of its examples of potentially unlawful harassment based on national origin. Trump spent more time during the rally attacking Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley than he did discussing his 2020 presidential campaign. (Politico / NBC News / Reuters / BuzzFeed News / New York Times)

• House Democrats warned that Omar's "life is in imminent danger...

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