The Vince Coglianese Show

INTERVIEW - JESSICA VAUGHAN - Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies

ICE to begin nationwide immigration raids Sunday. Washington (CNN)US Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to begin the previously postponed raids across the country Sunday to arrest thousands of migrant families who already have court orders to be removed, according to a US official.

ACLU sues Trump admin to put brakes on rescheduled ICE raids. (NY Post) - The American Civil Liberties Union and advocacy groups filed suit in Manhattan federal court Thursday to put the brakes on the Trump administration’s plan to have US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conduct a mass roundup of illegal aliens starting Sunday. According to the suit, the ICE raids are intended to target thousands of illegals who are facing deportation proceedings because they missed an immigration court hearing.

Rep. Ilhan Omar advises illegal immigrants to read up on their rights in advance of ICE raids: The @ACLU has put together a guide for your rights if you or someone you know is stopped and questioned by ICE. Read up on your rights and then share it with your friends and family: https://t.co/1TkqYNEh5t  — Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 11, 2019

Pelosi Tells Deportable Aliens They Can Refuse to Open Their Doors to ICE Agents. (CNSNews) -  "I read them this card," Pelosi told the news conference, holding up that same card:  An I.C.E. deportation warrant is not the same as a search warrant. If that is the only document I.C.E. brings to a home raid, agents do not have the legal right to enter a home.    If I.C.E. agents don't have a warrant signed by a judge, a person may refuse to open the door and let them in. An administrative order of removal from I.C.E. or immigration authorities is simply not enough.  Families belong together. Everyone in our country has rights. Many of these families are mixed-status families. We hope the president -- we pray that the president will think about this.

Trump expected to announce he won't force citizenship question onto 2020 census. President Trump has dropped his bid to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Instead, the President issued an executive order directing the Commerce Department to obtain citizenship data through means other than the U.S. Census. From the White House Rose Garden, Trump repeatedly said that he’s not backing away from attempting a count of U.S. citizens, but acknowledged legal setbacks.

INTERVIEW - HANS VON SPAKOVSKY - Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow at the The Heritage Foundation

President Trump has dropped his bid to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Instead, the President issued an executive order directing the Commerce Department to obtain citizenship data through means other than the U.S. Census. From the White House Rose Garden, Trump repeatedly said that he’s not backing away from attempting a count of U.S. citizens, but acknowledged legal setbacks.

7am – A/B/C INTERVIEW - JESSICA VAUGHAN - Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies

ICE to begin nationwide immigration raids Sunday. Washington (CNN)US Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to begin the previously postponed raids across the country Sunday to arrest thousands of migrant families who already have court orders to be removed, according to a US official.

ACLU sues Trump admin to put brakes on rescheduled ICE raids. (NY Post) - The American Civil Liberties Union and advocacy groups filed suit in Manhattan federal court Thursday to put the brakes on the Trump administration’s plan to have US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conduct a mass roundup of illegal aliens starting Sunday. According to the suit, the ICE raids are intended to target thousands of illegals who are facing deportation proceedings because they missed an immigration court hearing.

Rep. Ilhan Omar advises illegal immigrants to read up on their rights in advance of ICE raids: The @ACLU has put together a guide for your rights if you or someone you know is stopped and questioned by ICE. Read up on your rights and then share it with your friends and family: https://t.co/1TkqYNEh5t  — Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 11, 2019

Pelosi Tells Deportable Aliens They Can Refuse to Open Their Doors to ICE Agents. (CNSNews) -  "I read them this card," Pelosi told the news conference, holding up that same card:  An I.C.E. deportation warrant is not the same as a search warrant. If that is the only document I.C.E. brings to a home raid, agents do not have the legal right to enter a home.    If I.C.E. agents don't have a warrant signed by a judge, a person may refuse to open the door and let them in. An administrative order of removal from I.C.E. or immigration authorities is simply not enough.  Families belong together. Everyone in our country has rights. Many of these families are mixed-status families. We hope the president -- we pray that the president will think about this.

Trump expected to announce he won't force citizenship question onto 2020 census. President Trump has dropped his bid to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Instead, the President issued an executive order directing the Commerce Department to obtain citizenship data through means other than the U.S. Census. From the White House Rose Garden, Trump repeatedly said that he’s not backing away from attempting a coun

7am – D         INTERVIEW - KT MCFARLAND - Former Deputy National Security Adviser for President Trump and she also worked in Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations.  KT analyzed VP Biden’s speech on foreign policy.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden delivered Foreign Policy Address in New York. Biden promised to end ‘forever wars’ as president.

Joe Biden: "The world sees Trump for what he is -- insincere, ill-informed, and impulsive, and sometimes corrupt. Dangerously incompetent and incapable, in my view, of world leadership and leadership at home." 

7am – E         Ex-Clinton aide: 'I would do an ankle dive at the door' if Hillary tried to run again. (The Hill) - Jennifer Palmieri, director of communications for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, quipped Thursday that if her former boss tried to run for president again she would “do an ankle dive at the door.” “If Hillary Clinton ran for office again, I would do an ankle dive at the door and not allow her to do it because I love her too much,” Palmieri said at The Wrap’s Power Women Breakfast in Washington when asked what she would recommend if Clinton were to run again. Clinton has repeatedly said that she has no plans to launch a third White House bid after losing in the 2016 election to President Trump. She was most recently asked about a potential future run in March, telling New York's News 12 TV channel, "I'm not running, but I'm going to keep on working and speaking and standing up for what I believe." Asked if she would run for any other public office in the future, she said "I don't think so." Palmieri said Thursday that Clinton's 2016 campaign “set out to prove that she could to the job the same way it has always been done, which is the same way a man has done it.” “We were jamming her into a suit that wasn’t made for her, trying to prove she could do the job the same way as a man could do it,” Palmieri added. “When everyone tells you there’s something wrong with your voice, with how you dress, don’t expect to be able to please these people, you’re never going to give them the right answer.” Rather than being the first female president, Palmieri said, Clinton’s historical legacy will be “the woman who showed us it was all broken.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW - HANS VON SPAKOVSKY - Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow at the The Heritage Foundation

President Trump has dropped his bid to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

8am – B/C     AOC-PELOSI CATFIGHT CONTINUES:

Pelosi responds to AOC slam, says caucus has her back for condemning chief of staff’s ‘offensive’ tweet

Pelosi: I Called Out AOC And Her “Squad” Because Her Office Basically Accused Our Centrist Members Of Being Segregationists

Democratic lawmaker unloads on Ocasio-Cortez, chief of staff for 'using the race card' /    “What a weak argument, because you can’t get your way and because you’re getting pushback you resort to using the race card? Unbelievable. That’s unbelievable to me,” Rep. William Lacy Clay said. “I could care less. I could really care less. I agree with the Speaker. Four people, four votes out of 240 people, who cares.”

AOC appears to suggest that Pelosi is targeting her because Pelosi wants her to get death threats: “It's singling out 4 individuals, and knowing the media environment that we're operating in, knowing the amount of death threats that we get .... I think it's just worth asking why” BUT! Pelosi's no racist, she says now...

RAMESH PONNURU: Re the latest racial strife among House Democrats, recall that in April Rep. Omar said that "many" Democrats "cannot stand that a refugee, a black woman, an immigrant, a Muslim shows up in Congress thinking she’s equal to them.”

Pelosi says she's done talking about fight with 'Squad'

Ocasio-Cortez’s Chief Of Staff Admits What The Green New Deal Is Really About — And It’s Not The Climate. AOC's chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, admits GREEN NEW DEAL isn't really a climate plan. Chakrabarti had an unexpected disclosure. “The interesting thing about the Green New Deal,” he said, “is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all.” Ricketts greeted this startling notion with an attentive poker face.

8am – D         PAUL RYAN RIPS ON TRUMP AND TRUMP CLAPS BACK:

Trump goes after Paul Ryan for "atrocious" record: "Couldn't get him out of Congress fast enough!" enough!" President Trump went on a tear against former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) late Thursday night, lambasting his "atrocious" record after excerpts from a forthcoming book described the former GOP leader as exasperated with the president. In a trio of tweets, Trump blasted Ryan over his failed 2012 vice presidential bid on a ticket with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), ripped him over his inability to secure funding for a border wall and blamed the former Speaker for losing the Republican majority in the House last year. "Paul Ryan, the failed V.P. candidate & former Speaker of the House, whose record of achievement was atrocious (except during my first two years as President), ultimately became a long running lame duck failure, leaving his Party in the lurch both as a fundraiser & leader," Trump tweeted. "He quit Congress because he didn’t know how to Win," Trump continued. "They gave me standing O’s in the Great State of Wisconsin, & booed him off the stage. He promised me the Wall, & failed (happening anyway! "He had the Majority & blew it away with his poor leadership and bad timing. Never knew how to go after the Dems like they go after us. Couldn’t get him out of Congress fast enough!"

Paul Ryan: Trump 'didn't know anything' about government: 'I wanted to scold him all the time' / Former House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said President Trump’s lack of knowledge about anything in government tempted him to “scold” the president, according to a new book titled “American Carnage.” “I told myself I gotta have a relationship with this guy to help him get his mind right. Because, I’m telling you, he didn’t know anything about government. … I wanted to scold him all the time,” the Wisconsin Republican told book author and Politico correspondent Tim Alberta, The Washington Post reported Thursday. In a separate segment published in Politico Magazine, Mr. Alberta writes that Mr. Ryan attempted to have then-RNC Chairman Reince Priebus “excommunicate” Mr. Trump from the 2016 ticket after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape where then-candidate Trump joked about sexually assaulting women. Mr. Ryan, who retired in 2018 and is now a private citizen, said he and other lawmakers “really helped to stop him from making bad decisions” and reign in his impromptu style of governing. “We helped him make much better decisions, which were contrary to kind of what his knee-jerk reaction was. Now I think he’s making some of these knee-jerk reactions,” he said.

6am – A         INTERVIEW - HANS VON SPAKOVSKY - Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow at the The Heritage Foundation

President Trump has dropped his bid to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Instead, the President issued an executive order directing the Commerce Department to obtain citizenship data through means other than the U.S. Census. From the White House Rose Garden, Trump repeatedly said that he’s not backing away from attempting a count of U.S. citizens, but acknowledged legal setbacks.

6am – B/C     Surveillance Cameras Debunk the Bystander Effect. (CityLab) -

A new study uses camera footage to track the frequency of bystander intervention in heated incidents in Amsterdam; Cape Town; and Lancaster, England.  It’s one of the most enduring urban myths of all: If you get in trouble, don’t count on anyone nearby to help. Research dating back to the late 1960s documents how the great majority of people who witness crimes or violent behavior refuse to intervene. Psychologists dubbed this non-response as the “bystander effect”—a phenomenon which has been replicated in scores of subsequent psychological studies. The “bystander effect” holds that the reason people don’t intervene is because we look to one another. The presence of many bystanders diffuses our own sense of personal responsibility, leading people to essentially do nothing and wait for someone else to jump in. Past studies have used police reports to estimate the effect, but results ranged from 11 percent to 74 percent of incidents being interventions. Now, widespread surveillance cameras allow for a new method to assess real-life human interactions. A new study published this year in the American Psychologist finds that this well-established bystander effect may largely be a myth. The study uses footage of more than 200 incidents from surveillance cameras in Amsterdam; Cape Town; and Lancaster, England. Researchers watched footage and coded the nature of the conflict, the number of direct participants in it, and the number of bystanders. Bystanders were defined as intervening if they attempted a variety of acts, including pacifying gestures, calming touches, blocking contact between parties, consoling victims of aggression, providing practical help to a physical harmed victim, or holding, pushing, or pulling an aggressor away. Each event had an average of 16 bystanders and lasted slightly more than three minutes. The study finds that in nine out of 10 incidents, at least one bystander intervened, with an average of 3.8 interveners. There was also no significant difference across the three countries and cities, even though they differ greatly in levels of crime and violence. Instead of more bystanders creating an immobilizing “bystander effect,” the study actually found the more bystanders there were, the more likely it was that at least someone would intervene to help. This is a powerful corrective to the common perception of “stranger danger” and the “unknown other.” It suggests that people are willing to self-police to protect their communities and others. That’s in line with the research of urban criminologist Patrick Sharkey, who finds that stronger neighborhood organizations, not a higher quantity of policing, have fueled the Great Crime Decline. But how does this study generate findings that are so at odds with such widely held norms? The researchers point out that the bystander effect was reinforced by research that took place in laboratory-like experiments, which put bystanders in situations that do not approximate real life. Surveillance footage shows not what people guess they’d do in an experimental setting, but what they actually do in the real world.

6am – D         BIDEN’S BIG SPEECH ON TRUMP'S FOREIGN POLICY

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden delivered Foreign Policy Address in New York. Biden promised to end ‘forever wars’ as president.

Joe Biden: "The world sees Trump for what he is -- insincere, ill-informed, and impulsive, and sometimes corrupt. Dangerously incompetent and incapable, in my view, of world leadership and leadership at home."   

Biden says the “use of force should be a last resort,” adding, “It’s long past time we end the ‘forever wars.’” Audience applauds as he calls for the end of the Saudi-backed war in Yemen.

Biden answer's Trump's "America first" with his own foreign policy plan. Should he win the presidency, Biden would in his first year convene a "summit of the world's democracies" in an effort to strengthen the ties between leaders of foreign democracies, private industry executives

2020 BIDEN POLL: FOX NEWS POLL: Biden holds commanding lead among South Carolina Democrats. (Fox News) - South Carolina Democratic primary voters, more than half of whom are expected to be African American, say former Vice President Joe Biden is the best candidate to handle racial issues.  Even among black voters, he bests California Sen. Kamala Harris, who pressed Biden on the issue during the first Democratic debate.  Biden apologized for remarks he made about working with segregationist senators in the 1970s at a Saturday campaign event in Sumter, S.C. A Fox News Poll released Thursday finds Biden leading on an array of other key issues as well. Overall, Biden garners 35 percent among South Carolina Democratic primary voters in the race for the party’s nomination -- over twice the support of any other candidate.  Bernie Sanders receives 14 percent and Kamala Harris is close behind at 12 percent.

NBC/WSJ poll: Biden, Warren top 2020 Democratic field. WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., lead the Democratic presidential field, according to the national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll’s opening measure of the 2020 horse race. Biden gets the support of 26 percent of voters who say they will participate in next year’s Democratic primaries or caucuses, while 19 percent back Warren. They’re followed by Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who are tied at 13 percent. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg gets support from 7 percent of Democratic primary voters, and former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke and entrepreneur Andrew Yang are at 2 percent.

6am – E/F      WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL MEDIA SUMMIT:

TWITTER WENT DOWN DURING WH SOCIAL MEDIA SUMMIT: Twitter crashes, company probing cause. Twitter crashed Thursday afternoon and the company said it was “investigating issues” related to its platform going down. “We are currently investigating issues people are having accessing Twitter,” the company said on its official page. “We will keep you updated on what’s happening.”

Trump says he’ll invite top tech execs to White House to talk about free speech. P​resident Trump said he will invite the heads of the country’s top social media companies to the White House to discuss free speech and will have his administration ensure that Americans’ voices are not censored by tech companies. “I am directing my administration to explore all regulatory and legislation solutions to protect free speech and the free speech rights of all Americans — that’s you people in this room,” he said Thursday at a “social media summit” at the White House. “We hope to see transparency, more accountability and more freedom – that’s on both sides,” he continued, adding that he hasn’t set a date for the meeting yet.

Trump's Social Media Summit nearly descends into brawl in Rose Garden. President Trump’s Social Media Summit on Thursday almost descended into a brawl when Sebastian Gorka got into a brief shouting match with a White House reporter in the Rose Garden. Gorka, a former adviser to Trump, was sitting near the front row with several social media provocateurs during Trump’s announcement about the census while the White House press corps was forced to the back of the garden. After Trump’s speech, one of the attendees sarcastically told Playboy correspondent Brian Karem, who was with the White House press corps, “don’t be sad.” Karem responded, telling the attendees of the Social Media Summit that they are people “eager for demonic possession,” video of the incident shows. Gorka then shouted at Karem: “And you’re a journalist, right?” “Come on over here and talk to me, brother. Or we can go outside and have a long conversation,” Karem responded, the video shows. Gorka then walked up to Karem and shouted at him, “You’re not a journalist. You’re a punk!” the video shows. Gorka walked away after the brief dust up, the video shows.

Trump riffs on Twitter typos: 'The fingers aren't as good as the brain.'  President Trump on Thursday riffed on his tendency to have typos in tweets, telling attendees at a White House gathering of conservative social media personalities that "the fingers aren't as good as the brain."

White House prints out Trump "covfefe" tweet at social media summit

5am – A/B/CPresident Trump issues executive order on citizenship data: President Trump has dropped his bid to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Instead, the President issued an executive order directing the Commerce Department to obtain citizenship data through means other than the U.S. Census. From the White House Rose Garden, Trump repeatedly said that he’s not backing away from attempting a count of U.S. citizens, but acknowledged legal setbacks.

5am – D         Video shows dramatic jump by Guardsmen onto vessel laden with cocaine: officials. (Fox News) -- The Coast Guard on Thursday released video of service members jumping onto a moving drug smuggling vessel carrying 17,000 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $232 million, according to a branch spokesman. The video from June 18 showed crew members of the Cutter Munro leaping onto the self-propelled semi-submersible vessel, suspected of carrying drugs. The vessel moved alongside the cutter in the eastern Pacific. A crew member can then be seen busting open the hatch to find an unidentified man inside.  Five suspected drug smugglers were found, Chief Petty Officer John Masson with the U.S. Coast Guard told Fox News on Thursday. He said self-propelled semi-submersible vessels are sometimes used by traffickers to smuggle drugs in the open sea. Masson confirmed that the vessels are designed to hold large quantities of drugs and are used to try to evade detection. “It’s moving pretty quickly and it’s a high-speed evolution at sea which is inherently dangerous,” Masson told Fox News, referencing the video. “We mitigate those risks as best we can, but it demonstrates the dedication of the crew in keeping these illegal narcotics off our streets.”  The remarkable footage captured the attention of President Trump who commended the service members for their bravery. Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Do you believe this kind of bravery? Amazing drug seizure. WATCH! The video captured part of a monthslong drug operation in which 39,000 pounds of cocaine and 933 pounds of marijuana were seized in international waters in the Eastern Pacific, according to a news release. The release said the drugs “represent 14 separate suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions and disruptions off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America by three Coast Guard cutters between May and July 2019.”

5am – E         ICE to begin nationwide immigration raids Sunday. Washington (CNN) US Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to begin the previously postponed raids across the country Sunday to arrest thousands of migrant families who already have court orders to be removed, according to a US official. The effort comes weeks after President Donald Trump had tweeted ICE's plans to conduct the raids, then delayed the operation after additional details became public. The President, adamant on doubling down on illegal immigration, has repeatedly tweeted about an impending operation, a striking move given that operations are not announced ahead of time. It comes in the middle of another tumultuous week at the White House, with controversy surrounding Labor Secretary Alex Acosta and concerns about upcoming testimony of former special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump is also trying to press ahead with adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 census after the Supreme Court dealt a major setback last month. The New York Times first reported on the raids, saying they are expected to take place in at least 10 cities, will occur "over multiple days" and will include "collateral" deportations in which "authorities might detain immigrants who happened to be on the scene, even though they were not targets of the raids." Matthew Bourke, an ICE spokesman, said ICE will not comment on operational details and "ICE prioritizes the arrest and removal of unlawfully present aliens who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security."

INTERVIEW - LIZ HARRINGTON - RNC Spokesperson

VIRGINIA DEM OFFICIALS STILL DEALING WITH THEIR OWN SCANDALS...

VA GOV. NORTHAM SAYS HE 'CONFUSED' VIRGINIANS WITH HIS BLACKFACE INCIDENT: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam: “The occurrences in February hurt Virginians, CONFUSED Virginians. I regret that. We didn’t handle it as well as we should have..." 

Lawyer for Va. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax says witness can corroborate Duke sexual encounter was consensual, rebutting rape allegation

Statement from Meredith Watson's attorney: Fairfax Continues to Dodge Public Hearings. "Five months after being accused of rape, Justin Fairfax changes his story yet again. First it didn't happen then it was consensual, and now for the first time he implicates his buddy as a participant. If Justin Fairfax wants the truth to come out, this secret witness should testify under oath, in public, along with Mr. Fairfax, both his victims and their witnesses. Fairfax continues to fight a public hearing tooth and nail. That says it all." - Nancy Erika Smith, Attorney for Meredith Watson

Flashback in June: Justin Fairfax 'seriously' considering a run for governor, says sexual abuse scandal raised his profile

INTERVIEW - JAMES O'KEEFE - Project Veritas – discussed visiting the White House's Social Media Summit and Project Veritas also broke a story about a letter leaked from Google that targeted Breitbart News.

Trump to speak to conservatives at social media summit. WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - President Donald Trump plans to meet with prominent conservative social media figures on Thursday at a White House forum where he is set to reiterate frustrations with big tech firms for allegedly suppressing conservative voices.  Pro-Trump online personalities will get together at what the White House billed as a gathering of “digital leaders” where invitees expect to discuss what they say is censorship on social media platforms.

White House Invites James O’Keefe to Social Media Summit on Heels of Veritas’ Google Exposé. (Washington, D.C.) – Project Veritas founder and CEO, James O’Keefe, has been invited to the White House’s Social Media Summit after Veritas published an investigative report showing political bias at Google.  The Social Media Summit will take place in Washington, D.C. on July 11, 2019. “If legendary muckrakers like Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell can work alongside Teddy Roosevelt to expose and reform Big Oil,” said James O’Keefe, “Project Veritas can be synergistic with the Trump administration to pull back the curtain surrounding Big Tech.” Project Veritas recently released documents from a Google insider that show bias against conservatives.  In the first of four releases, Veritas obtained hidden camera footage of a Google executive, Jen Gennai, talking about the company’s plans to “…prevent the next Trump situation.”

Project Veritas: 1,000 Google Employees Signed Internal Anti-Breitbart Petition.  An internal Google petition “to end Google’s business with Breitbart” was recently leaked to Project Veritas. The petition — which over 1,000 Google employees have signed — calls for labeling Breitbart News as “prohibited content” to block the news outlet from “all Google-served ads.” A Google insider says that a petition has been circulated among Google employees, calling on banning Breitbart News from Google’s advertising networks, in order to cut off the news platform from ad revenue, according to a recent report by Project Veritas. “These people are employees of Google,” said a Google insider to James O’Keefe of Project Veritas, “They are unhappy with the election, and they are unhappy with the narratives that are being put out there that contradict the mainstream media’s narrative.”

INTERVIEW - JOE DIGENOVA - legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia

TRUMP WINS ON EMOLUMENTS SUIT: Donald Trump took a rare judicial victory lap on Wednesday after a three-judge panel tossed out a Democrat-led lawsuit accusing him of corruption by accepting foreign government business at his Washington, D.C. hotel.

Appeals court sides with President Trump, dismisses 'emoluments' lawsuit involving his D.C. hotel. US appeals court orders *dismissal* of emoluments case brought against Trump by Maryland, DC attorneys general.

Acosta Defends Role In Jeffrey Epstein Deal, Says Original Charges Offered No Jail Time. Embattled Labor Secretary Alex Acosta is defending his handling of a 2008 plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein, saying his office fought for a tougher punishment after prosecutors were ready to let the financer “walk free.” The pushback comes while a growing number of Democrats call for Acosta’s resignation. A secret 2008 plea deal let Epstein avoid federal prosecution after allegations he molested teenage girls.

Alex Acosta: “Simply put, the Palm Beach state attorney’s office was ready to let Epstein walk free, no jail time. Prosecutors in my former office found this to be completely unacceptable... there was value to getting a guilty plea and having him register”

8am – A/B     NYC HELD A PARADE FOR THE WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM:

Rapinoe drops F-bomb during championship celebration in NYC. "New York City, you're the motherf---ing best!"

Megan Rapinoe: "Just shoutout to the teammates ... We're chillin', we got tea sippin', we got celebrations. We have pink hair and purple hair. We have tattoos and dreadlocks. We got white girls and black girls, and everything in between. Straight girls and gay girls."

Closing message at the parade: Soccer star Megan Rapinoe’s charge to fans after World Cup win: “We have to be better. We have to love more, hate less. We’ve got to listen more and talk less. We’ve got to know that this is everybody’s responsibility. ... It’s our responsibility to make the world a better place”

At the parade event: Rapinoe holding award: "I deserve this!"

At parade, NYC Mayor Bill deBlasio tells CNN: As president, "I’d use an executive order to have the Treasury Department enforce on the U.S. Soccer Federation [equal pay] because they’re tax-exempt and they’re discriminating in effect against women in pay."

RAPINOE'S MEDIA TOUR

Maddow tells Rapinoe that she’s still so nervous

Maddow on intervieing Rapinoe - I sweat through my suit, very exciting

ON CNN with ANDERSON COOPER, RAPINOE says she wouldn't want to ruin THE PLATFORM THAT THEY BUILT by going to the White House

Rapinoe and Anderson Cooper on kneeling - Gave me a sense of pride

MSNBC panel gushes on Megan Rapinoe:  "You could see her with a political future."…  "You can see her at the Democratic convention." …. "She’s probably the coolest woman in America right now." … "Megan Rapinoe, you make us all believe. God bless you”

8am – C         FBI makes multiple arrests in Puerto Rico corruption scandal, prompting calls for governor’s ouster and concerns about the billions of dollars in hurricane disaster relief aid approved by Congress for the island. The FBI on Wednesday arrested two former senior officials who served in the administration of Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, leading the chairman of the House committee that oversees Puerto Rico to call for the governor to step down. The arrests also spurred concerns on Capitol Hill about the billions of dollars in aid that Congress has approved for the island. The federal indictment says the former officials illegally directed federal funding to politically connected contractors. The arrests come about a month after Congress approved a controversial disaster aid bill that earmarked additional funding for Puerto Rico’s recovery from Hurricane Maria in 2017. The aid was tied up in part because President Trump called island officials “incompetent or corrupt.” Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chairman of the Natural Resources Committee that oversees Puerto Rico, called on Rosselló to resign amid the ongoing federal investigation. “We’ve crossed that crucible now,” said Grijalva, who later reiterated on Twitter that he supports Rosselló's resignation. “The restoration of accountability is so key going forward.” Six people were charged in the 32-count indictment. They include Julia Keleher, who served as Puerto Rico’s education secretary until April, and Ángela Ávila-Marrero, who was the executive director of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration until late June. “Keleher and Avila-Marrero exploited their government positions and fraudulently awarded contracts funded with federal monies,” U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Vélez said in a statement. “The charged offenses are reprehensible, more so in light of Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis.”

8am – D         INTERVIEW - LIZ HARRINGTON - RNC Spokesperson

VIRGINIA DEM OFFICIALS STILL DEALING WITH THEIR OWN SCANDALS...

VA GOV. NORTHAM SAYS HE 'CONFUSED' VIRGINIANS WITH HIS BLACKFACE INCIDENT: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam: “The occurrences in February hurt Virginians, CONFUSED Virginians. I regret that. We didn’t handle it as well as we should have..." 

Lawyer for Va. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax says witness can corroborate Duke sexual encounter was consensual, rebutting rape allegation

Statement from Meredith Watson's attorney: Fairfax Continues to Dodge Public Hearings. "Five months after being accused of rape, Justin Fairfax changes his story yet again. First it didn't happen then it was consensual, and now for the first time he implicates his buddy as a participant. If Justin Fairfax wants the truth to come out, this secret witness should testify under oath, in public, along with Mr. Fairfax, both his victims and their witnesses. Fairfax continues to fight a public hearing tooth and nail. That says it all." - Nancy Erika Smith, Attorney for Meredith Watson

Flashback in June: Justin Fairfax 'seriously' considering a run for governor, says sexual abuse scandal raised his profile