1/ U.S. intelligence intercepts indicate that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia ordered an operation to coax Jamal Khashoggi back to the kingdom in order to capture him. Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Mohammed bin Salman and the Saudi government, disappeared last week after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. A bipartisan group on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee invoked the Magnitsky Act to force the Trump administration to investigate the disappearance of Khashoggi, which requires the administration to respond within 120 days of potential sanctions against officials responsible for human rights violations. Trump said he is reluctant to cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia, believing it “would be hurting� the U.S. economy. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg)

2/ Trump pledged to “weed out� individuals inside his administration who he doesn’t like or trust. When asked if that included Jeff Sessions, Trump replied that he is focused on the midterm elections. Melania Trump, meanwhile, said Trump has people working in his administration she doesn’t trust and it is hard for the president to govern when “you always need to watch your back.� Melania added that she is “the most bullied person on the world.� #BeBest (Politico / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post)

3/ Trump spoke with Jeff Sessions’ own chief of staff about replacing him as attorney general. It is not clear whether Trump wanted Matthew Whitaker to take over on an interim basis or to be nominated in a more permanent capacity. White House officials say they expect both Sessions and Rosenstein to remain in their positions at least until after the midterms. (Washington Post)

4/ Trump is considering as many as five candidates to replace Jeff Sessions if he leaves as attorney general. The candidates include Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Transportation Department general counsel Steven Bradbury, former Attorney General Bill Barr, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and Janice Rogers Brown, a retired appeals court judge from the District of Columbia Circuit. Sessions isn’t currently planning to leave, but has privately said he expects to be asked to resign. (Wall Street Journal)

5/ Georgia’s Secretary of State is holding more than 53,000 voter registration applications – nearly 70% from black voters – due to the state’s “exact match� law, which requires that information on...