⚡️Day 532: "My staff told me not to say this."

1/ Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer urged Trump to nominate federal Judge Merrick Garland to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy in a private phone call last week. Garland was Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, who was blocked by Senate Republicans in 2016. The conversation lasted less than five minutes.

2/ Trump narrowed his Supreme Court shortlist to Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Raymond Kethledge and will announ...ce his nominee on Monday, July 9, at 8 pm Eastern time. Aides, however, said they wouldn't be surprised if Trump announces his nominee ahead of the scheduled prime-time event.

⚡️ Day 530: Shredded.

1/ The Trump administration will rescind Obama-era guidelines that encourage college admissions to consider race as a factor in order to diversify their student bodies. Trump administration officials contend the current policies "mislead schools to believe that legal forms of affirmative action are simpler to achieve than the law allows." The reversal would restore George W. Bush's policy that "strongly encourages the use of race-neutral methods" for stu...dent admissions.

⚡️ Day 529: Art of the FART.

1/ Michael Cohen will "put family and country first," saying his "first loyalty" isn't to Trump. "I will not be a punching bag as part of anyone's defense strategy," Cohen said. "I am not a villain of this story, and I will not allow others to try to depict me that way." Cohen, signaling his willingness to cooperate with Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, said his decision to cooperate will not be based on... loyalty to Trump, but rather his attorney's legal advice.

⚡️ Day 526: Totally screwed.

1/ Trump has been privately telling top White House officials that he wants the US to withdraw from the World Trade Organization. "He's (threatened to withdraw) 100 times," a person who's discussed the subject with Trump. "It would totally (screw) us as a country."

2/ The Trump administration ran a family separation "pilot program" months before the announcement of the "zero tolerance" policy. At least 1,768 children were separated from their pare...nts between October 2016 and February 2018

⚡️ Day 525: Completely unacceptable.

1/ Paul Manafort owed $10 million to a Russian oligarch who was sanctioned by the U.S. in April, according to an unsealed search warrant application from July 2017. Oleg Deripaska financially backed Manafort's consulting work in Ukraine when it started in 2005-06.

2/ Trump and ­Putin will meet on July 16 in Helsinki to discuss a "range of national security issues," as well as "further development of Russian-American relations." Before the ...summit meeting was announced, Trump repeated Moscow's denial that "Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!" via Twitter. He added: "Why isn't Hillary/Russia being looked at?"

⚡️ Day 524: Bad idea.

1/ A federal judge ordered the federal government to reunite migrant families separated under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy and to end most family separations. U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw issued a nationwide injunction requiring that all children under the age of five be reunited with their parents within 14 days and that older children be reunited within 30 days. The judge also ordered that all children be allowed to talk ...to their parents within 10 days, as well as to temporarily stop the practice of separating children from their parents.

⚡️ Day 523: Common ground.

1/ The Supreme Court upheld the third iteration of Trump's travel ban in a 5-4 ruling among partisan lines. The ban was issued last fall and prevented travelers from eight counties – including six majority-Muslim countries – from entering the U.S. Several states challenged the ban, claiming the order constituted a "Muslim ban," violated Trump's executive authority and the Constitution, and harmed U.S. citizens and educational institutions.

2/ The S...upreme Court ruled that "crisis pregnancy centers" don't have to provide women with information about the availability of abortions. California required that centers post notices about state-offered abortion, contraception and prenatal services available to low-income women, and to provide phone numbers for more information. The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates argued that the law violated their right to free speech by forcing them to convey messages at odds with their beliefs. The Supreme Court agreed in a 5-4 vote. "Crisis pregnancy centers" are essentially anti-abortion facilities that seek to prevent abortions that are often located next to or across the street from a traditional, full-service women's reproductive health center.

⚡️ Day 522: Inhumane and unethical.

1/ Trump: "We must immediately" send immigrants who illegally enter the U.S. "back from where they came" with "no Judges or Court Cases." Trump likened immigrants and asylum seekers to intruders trying to "break into" the country, saying "we cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came.”

2/ Trump has sidelined James Ma...ttis, no longer listening or including his defense secretary on several major foreign policy issues. Trump is relying on his own instincts or those of National Security Adviser John Bolton or Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over Mattis' advice. "They don't really see eye to eye," said a former senior White House official.

⚡️ Day 519: Phony stories.

1/ Paul Ryan abruptly delayed a vote on a "compromise" immigration package until next week, as Republicans search for a way to get 218 votes to pass the measure. The bill that would provide $25 billion for Trump's border wall, offer a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, and keep migrant families together in detention centers. It was the second time the bill has been delayed this week.

2/ Trump told Republicans to "stop wasting their time on Immigr...ation" until after the midterms, predicting that more Republicans will be elected to Congress, and accusing Democrats of creating "phony stories of sadness and grief" on the border. Three days ago, Trump tweeted that "now is the best opportunity ever for Congress to change the ridiculous and obsolete laws on immigration." Trump's comments came shortly after Republican House leaders postponed a vote on a broad immigration bill.

⚡️ Day 518: Shared values.

1/ Hundreds of separated children have been sent to New York even after Trump signed an executive order ending his administration's policy of separating parents and children who have illegally crossed the border

2/ Ivanka Trump thanked her dad for ending his family separation policy while calling on Congress to "find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values."

⚡️ Day 517: A public relations nightmare.

1/ Trump signed an executive order to reverse his administration's policy of separating families at the border. Trump said that while the order "will solve that problem" of children being separated from their parents, it wouldn't end his administration's "zero tolerance" policy of prosecuting everyone caught attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

2/ Separating migrant children from their parents costs the Trump administ...ration more than keeping them with their parents.

⚡️ Day 516: Infestation.

1/ Michael Cohen has signaled that he is "willing to give" investigators information on Trump in order to alleviate pressure on himself and his family. Cohen has hired New York lawyer Guy Petrillo to represent him in the federal investigation into his business dealings and wants Trump to pay his legal fees

2/ Trump accused Democrats of wanting "illegal immigrants … to pour into and infest our country." Trump also rejected a proposal by Senator Ted Cru...z to end family separations, calling the plan to hire thousands of new immigration judges "crazy" and suggesting the judges could be corrupt. Trump argued that undocumented immigrants could "game the system" by taking counsel from immigration lawyers and reading statements prepared for them

⚡️ Day 515: Not on my watch.

1/ Hundreds of children separated from their parents are waiting inside cages in an old warehouse in south Texas while they wait to be turned over to shelters funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. More than 1,100 people are being held inside facility, which is divided into separate wings for unaccompanied children, adults, and mothers and fathers with children.

2/ Lawmakers from both parties demanded that Trump stop his policy of ...separating children from their parents at the border. Republican lawmakers, Laura Bush, a conservative newspaper, and a former Trump adviser joined with Democrats in condemning the policy that has removed nearly 2,000 children from their parents over the last six weeks. Melania Trump, meanwhile, placed the blame on "both sides," saying that she "hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together."

⚡️ Day 512: Fickle.

1/ A federal judge revoked Paul Manafort's bail and sent him to jail while he awaits trial after Robert Mueller accused Trump's former campaign chief of witness tampering. "I cannot turn a blind eye to this," Judge Amy Berman Jackson said.

2/ Michael Cohen filed a restraining order against Michael Avenatti to stop him from speaking to the media about the Stormy Daniels case. Cohen argued that Avenatti's "publicity tour" of more that 100 television intervie...ws since March is unethical, and harms Cohen's ability to have a fair trial by turning the case into a "media circus."

⚡️ Day 511: Persistent illegal conduct.

1/ New York State attorney general sued Trump and his three eldest children for "persistent illegal conduct" at the Donald J. Trump Foundation

2/ The Inspector General Report: James Comey "deviated" from FBI and Justice Department procedures while investigating Hillary Clinton and her use of a private email server