Politics

Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort have agreed to testify privately before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week.

“Both Donald Trump, Jr. and Paul Manafort, through their attorneys, have agreed to negotiate to provide the committee with documents and be interviewed by committee members and staff prior to a public hearing,” according to a statement issued Friday evening by Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein. “Therefore, we will not issue subpoenas for them tonight requiring their presence at Wednesday’s hearing but reserve the right to do so in the future.”

Longtime Wall Street investment banker Anthony Scaramucci made his White House debut Friday, expressing his “love” for Donald Trump and promising a much more “aggressive” strategy of communicating the president’s message.

On a day of upheaval at the executive mansion, Sean Spicer resigned as press secretary and acting communications director amid reports he told Trump he believed Scaramucci’s hiring was a major mistake. What’s more, Scaramucci made his first major announcement as part of Trump’s team when he announced Spicer’s top deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, will be the new press secretary.

Sean Spicer said on Friday that he would step down next month after just 223 days as White House press secretary. It will be the quickest voluntary exit for the position since Jerald terHorst resigned in 1974 after just a month — in protest of President Gerald Ford’s pardon of former president Richard Nixon. 

The effect of John McCain’s absence from the Senate goes well beyond the vote-counting on health care.

The Arizona Republican has long been in the middle of major legislative battles, always willing to mix it up with his colleagues and spar with reporters in the Capitol’s hallways. (Few senators would video-bomb a CNN correspondent during a live shot.)

All eight former directors of the Congressional Budget Office — Democrats and Republicans alike — sent a letter to Congress on Friday protesting the ongoing attacks on the agency’s integrity and urging that Congress continue to rely on CBO estimates.

In the letter, the former directors registered what they said was their “strong objection to recent attacks on the integrity and professionalism of the agency and on the agency’s role in the legislative process.”

Confusing, offensive, and downright strange incidents and statements often punctuated Sean Spicer’s six-month tenure as White House press secretary. 

That ended abruptly on Friday, when he announced his resignation.

Former Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska said he’s not surprised Republicans were having so much trouble passing a health care bill, saying Thursday it was the “day of reckoning” for seven years worth of promises that they would repeal the 2010 law.

“I believe that you have to be very cautious on promises,” he told the Omaha World-Herald, “and very consistent on keeping your promises when you make them.”

By JOE WILLIAMS and LAUREN CLASON

Republican senators left Washington no closer to a deal on their health care effort, with no idea what measure might be brought up for a vote early next week or whether the chamber could even clear a key procedural hurdle needed to begin consideration of any legislation.

By BILL CLARK and TOM WILLIAMS

The week of July 17 began with health care negotiations in the Senate, amid protests in the hallways of the Senate office buildings, and is coming to an end with an essentially stalled process on a new health care bill in the chamber. The Republican effort to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s signature law continued to be the focus of Congress watchers on the Hill this week.

Republican Rep. Steve Pearce is suing New Mexico’s Democratic Secretary of State to use his $1 million congressional campaign war chest for his gubernatorial bid. 

Maggie Toulouse Oliver told Pearce the state’s campaign contribution limits allow him to use only $5,500 from his federal campaign for his primary race, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

Former Arizona Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick announced Thursday she will challenge Rep. Martha McSally in the state’s 2nd Congressional District.

Kirkpatrick represented Arizona’s 1st District from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2013 until January after losing in her bid against Sen. John McCain.

Do voters care about floor procedure? Two candidates in a crowded special Senate primary are spending time feuding over the filibuster, so they might find out next month when they, and several others, face off for the GOP nod. 

When Rep. Mo Brooks released the first ad of his Alabama Senate campaign, he made a splash by threatening to filibuster — by reading from the King James Bible — any spending bill that doesn’t fund President Donald Trump’s border wall.

Sen. Lindsey Graham thinks that despite all the campaign rhetoric, President Donald Trump might be the one to build consensus among Republicans on immigration.

Graham said that unlike either Barack Obama or George W. Bush, Trump might be able to reach elements who are the most fearful of immigrants.

Ohio state treasurer and Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel retweeted the right-wing conspiracy theorist behind the “Pizzagate” theory.

Mandel, who is running for a rematch against Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2018, retweeted a post on Medium by Mike Cernovich, who is a host on fellow conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars.