What We’re Following Today
It’s Thursday, May 30.
‣ President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and balked at the suggestion that Congress might move to impeach him. “To me it’s a dirty word, the word impeach. It’s a dirty, filthy, disgusting word,” he said.
‣ New documents cited in a federal-court filing offer evidence that the administration proposed the census citizenship question to advance Republican Party interests. (The administration has previously claimed that the question would help officials uphold the Voting Rights Act.).
‣ The administration is reportedly considering a proposal that would deny asylum to immigrants who travel to the United States through a third country.
Here’s what else we’re watching:
McConnell’s Grand Plan: The Senate majority leader said this week that if a vacancy on the Supreme Court occurs in the next year, the Republican majority will confirm the president’s nominee. In 2016, he refused to even hold hearings for former President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland. But no one should be surprised McConnell’s playing it out this way.
Watch This Space: A new proposal from Senator Kamala Harris of California would require that individual state laws restricting abortion access be approved at the federal level, highlighting escalating tensions between states and the federal government: “More and more, both parties are seeking to use federal authority to block state initiatives they oppose, even as they routinely mobilize their power in the states to resist the other party’s agenda in Washington,” writes Ronald Brownstein.