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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Lauren Gambino in Washington and Kari Paul in San Francisco

Labor secretary Acosta defends role in Epstein's 'sweetheart' plea deal – as it happened

Evening summary

Kari Paul, signing off for the night! Here’s what happened late in the day today.

  • Democratic Senate candidate Amy McGrath said she would have supported Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh then changed her mind.
  • A Nevada congressman is calling for Energy Secretary Rick Perry to resign over a toxic waste controversy.
  • A federal judge in Maryland denied the Justice Department’s motion to replace its legal team in its case to include a question regarding citizenship on the 2020 Census.
  • Former Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer denied allegations from labor secretary Alexander Acosta that he mishandled charges of sex crimes against Jeffrey Epstein more than a decade ago.

Less than 24 hours after saying she would have voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Democratic Senate candidate Amy McGrath has reversed her position.

McGrath, a retired Marine, tweeted at 7:30 pm ET on Wednesday she would not, in fact, have voted to confirm the justice, who faced allegations of sexual assault.

Amy McGrath, the Democratic candidate challenging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his seat in 2020, said she likely would have voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“I was very concerned about Judge Kavanaugh, what I felt like were the far-right stances that he had. However, there was nothing in his record that I think would disqualify him in any way,” McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot, told the Louisville Courier-Journal.

“And the fact is when you have the president and the Senate, this is our system and so I don’t think there was anything that would have disqualified him in my mind,” she said, adding when pressed on how she would have voted: “yeah, I probably would have voted for him.”

A Nevada congressman is calling for Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s resignation after the department acknowledged low-level radioactive waste that was shipped to Nevada may have been mislabeled and out of compliance with safety regulations for years.

From the Associated Press:

Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford said Wednesday that Perry has disrespected the people of Nevada and eroded public trust in his ability to abide by rules established for nuclear waste disposal.

The material is unrelated to weapons-grade plutonium that the department secretly shipped to the same site last year and is currently at the center of a legal battle with the state of Nevada in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Former Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer denied allegations from labor secretary Alexander Acosta that he mishandled charges of sex crimes against Jeffrey Epstein more than a decade ago.

Epstein, a convicted sex offender and financier with ties to the Trump administration, is facing new charges of trafficking and raping underage girls.Democrats are now calling for the resignation of Acosta, who brokered a plea deal for Epstein in 2008.

Acosta defended his handling of the case and said Krischer was responsible for the deal.

In a statement released Wednesday, Krischer said Acosta is “completely wrong” and that a 53 page federal indictment “was abandoned after secret negotiations between Mr. Epstein’s lawyers and Mr. Acosta.”

“No matter how my office resolved the state charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office always had the ability to file its own federal charges,” he said.

Updated

Federal regulators have raised “serious concerns” about Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency Libra related to “money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability”, according to the New York Times.

“I just think it cannot go forward without there being broad satisfaction with the way the company has addressed money laundering”, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell testified on Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee.

Previously, five Democrats in the committee called on Facebook to “immediately cease implementation plans” of Libra until lawmaker questions are answered.

In June, Facebook announced plans to roll out the digital currency in 2020. It has pledged to work with regulators ahead of the official launch.

A federal judge will let prosecutors file secret evidence in the trespassing case of a Chinese woman accused of sneaking into President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club because it contains national security information.

From the Associated Press:

District Judge Roy Altman said in a two-page order filed Tuesday that he reviewed the evidence against Yujing Zhang that prosecutors want to keep secret and agrees its disclosure could “seriously damage” U.S. national security.

Zhang is charged with illegally entering the president’s Florida club in March and then lying to Secret Service agents when confronted. Her trial is scheduled for next month. Authorities say she was carrying a computer and other electronics when arrested, but hasn’t been charged with espionage.

She fired her public defenders last month to serve as her own attorney. She remains jailed without bond.

Updated

A federal judge in Maryland has denied a motion from the Justice Department to replace its legal team in its ongoing struggle to add a question regarding US citizenship to the 2020 census.

Over the weekend, the Justice Department announced it wanted to replace its attorneys on the case. A judge denied that change on Tuesday, challenging the department’s assertion the withdrawal of counsel “will [not] cause any disruption.” A second judge denied the changes on Wednesday.

Trump has threatened to issue an executive order to put the citizenship question on census forms. Critics say it will diminish participation in the census in areas with high immigrant populations.

Hello, readers! It’s Kari Paul here in San Francisco taking over the blog for the afternoon. Stay tuned for updates.

Afternoon summary

  • The top news story this afternoon centered on embattled Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who calmly and methodically defended his handling of a plea deal granted to Jeffrey Epstein related to sex crimes charges in Florida over a decade ago. Epstein said he believes his office acted “appropriately” and said he believes his standing with the president is secure.
  • But the morning began with news that Kim Darroch had resigned after leaked memos sparked an international row between Trump and Britain. The Guardian reported that Darroch made his decision after Boris Johnson, the leading contender for Prime Minister, wavered in his support for the ambassador.
  • Today, DC’s mayor Muriel Browser said in a letter to Trump that his Fourth of July event – in addition to the cost of implementing security measures at protests and other related events during the weekend – bankrupted the city’s special security fund. She is asking the federal government for funds to replenish it.
  • A House panel heard from a mother whose 21-month-old daughter died in Ice custody. Her powerful testimony moved several lawmakers to tears and provided new insights into the conditions into the detention centers where newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers are kept.
  • One fun highlight: The US Women’s soccer team took a victory lap with a ticker tape parade in New York. In her remarks, co-captain Megan Rapinoe ruled out running for president but called on Americans to be kinder and better to one another. Sounds like a stump speech to us.

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer is the 25th Democratic presidential candidate many in the party say they didn’t really need.

Steyer’s entry confounded Democrats, not least because he announced six months ago that he wouldn’t run for president.

Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, would have been the 26th but fellow Californian, congressman Eric Swalwell, dropped out the day before Steyer jumped in. “It’s rough out there,” Swalwell said when asked what advice he had for the latest entrant.

Steyer’s change of heart essentially boils down to a fear that the Democrats in the race are not bringing the fight to Trump, as he has tried to with a multimillion-dollar campaign to impeach Trump.

“They’ve had one hearing so far, with Michael Cohen, and it was months ago,” Steyer told the Washington Post in an interview. “So yes, I’m frustrated. And really, what I’m saying now is that our politics are broken by corporate money, the solution is pushing power to people, and I am convinced that it will take someone from the outside to do it.”

Steyer has said he intends to spend $100m on his presidential campaign, a pledge that has earned groans from candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, whose are running to weaken the influence of money in politics.

The chilly reception begs the question: will Steyer receive at least 65,000 unique donors and poll at 1% in time for the first debate?

He sure is trying.

In a raw moment, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez embraced Yazmin Juárez after her testimony. Ocasio-Cortez asked her several question in Spanish regarding what she saw and experienced in the detention centers.

Asked if she felt safe there, Juárez said “no”.

In the House oversight committee, Yazmin Juarez, whose 21-month old baby daughter died in ICE custody, delivered searing testimony before Congress this afternoon.

Acosta defends his handling of Epstein plea deal: 'We believe that we proceeded appropriately.'

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta says he believed his team proceeded “appropriately” but won’t say whether he harbors any regrets, saying the goal was to avoid a deal allowing Jeffrey Epstein to “walk free”.

“Facts are important, and facts are being overlooked,” Acosta said at a the press conference in Washington.

Acosta oversaw the department at the time federal prosecutors granted the plea deal to Epstein.

“We did what we did because we wanted to see Epstein go to jail,” Acosta continued. “He needed to go to jail and that was the focus.”

During the press conference, Acosta urged more victims to come forward.

“The message to victims is: come forward,” Acosta said, saying they should do so “because the justice system needs to hear from them”.

Asked several times whether he would apologize to the women, Acosta refused.

When pressed on his relationship with Trump, Acosta said that they have a good relationship and the president has his back.

“My relationship with the president is outstanding,” Acosta said, adding that Trump “has made publicly ... that I have his support”.

Updated

Acosta speaks amid calls for his resignation

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta is addressing the public for the first time since Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest amid calls for his resignation.

He begins by saying he is pleased that federal prosecutors in New York are pursuing the case.

“I absolutely welcome this New York prosecution. It is absolutely the right thing to do,” Acosta said.

The labor secretary then offers his version of how the plea deal unfolded, suggesting that the US attorney’s office, under his leadership, stepped in when it looked like the state prosecutor’s office was going to let Epstein “walk”.

“I know that my former colleagues the men and women of my office wanted to help them. I wanted to help them,” he said. “That is why we intervened.”

An extensive investigation by the Miami Herald paints a different picture of the deal that Acosta granted, which set aside a 53-count federal indictment and allowed Epstein to plead guilty to state prostitution charges involving underage girls.

Updated

Presidential candidates love to unveil new endorsements. They are markers of influence and support and a sign post for where the energy is in a race.

Bernie Sanders is taking a different tack. Today he unveiled a list of “anti-endorsements” – people who have forcefully opposed his campaign. The list, which is filled with wealthy businessmen, billionaires and centrist Democrats, was headlined by a quote from FDR: “I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.”

The list of anti-endorsements include:

  • Haim Saban, billionaire
  • Kenneth Lagone, co-founder of Home Depot
  • Andy Puzder, former fast food CEO
  • Lowell McAdam, former CEO of Verizon
  • Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase
  • Bob Iger, CEO of Disney
  • Jeffrey Immelt, former CEO of General Electric
  • Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs
  • Alan Greenspan, Former Federal Reserve Chairman
  • Third Way, centrist “Think Tank”
  • Leon Cooperman, Former Partner at Goldman Sachs
  • Bernard Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot
  • Stanley Druckenmiller, billionaire hedge fund manager

Guardian reporter Amanda Holpuch will be sending updates from the House oversight committee’s “Kids in Cages” hearing which is due to get underway shortly.

Among those testifying is Yazmin Juárez, the mother of a 21-month-old girl who died shortly after being released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody, Holpuch writes.

The Guatemalan toddler, Mariee Juarez, is one of seven children to die while in the custody of US immigration agencies, or shortly after being released from them, in the past year. In the decade prior, no children died in the custody of these agencies.

Mariee’s mother will testify that Ice medical staff neglected the toddler while she was being held at a family detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

A week after entering Dilley, Mariee had a 104 degree fever and suffered from cough, congestion, diarrhea and vomiting, according to the family’s attorney. These conditions were not mentioned by medical staff on discharge forms, according to the lawsuit. The girl spent six weeks in hospitals before succumbing to a collapsed lung from a respiratory infection.

The toddler did not show signs of illness when she was first detained by Ice, according to documents obtained by ABC and The Marshall Project.

Juárez filed a wrongful death claim against the US government and is seeking $60m in damages.

Congressional Democrats will hold hearings on Labor Secretary Alex Acosta’s handling of a 2008 plea deal granted to Jeffrey Epstein after he was charged with sex trafficking involving underage girls.

The renewed interest in Acosta’s handling of the plea deal, which allowed Epstein to leave jail six days a week, has shone a spotlight on his work as secretary.

As ace Guardian reporter Ed Pilkington explains, Acosta has proposed 80% funding cuts for the government agency that combats child sex trafficking.

Acosta’s plan to slash funding of a critical federal agency in the fight against the sexual exploitation of children is contained in his financial plans for the Department of Labor for fiscal year 2020. In it, he proposes decimating the resources of a section of his own department known as the International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB), the story says.

The bureau’s budget would fall from $68m last year to just $18.5m. The proposed reduction is so drastic that experts say it would effectively kill off many federal efforts to curb sex trafficking and put the lives of large numbers of children at risk.

Katherine Clark, a congresswoman from Massachusetts, said Acosta’s proposed cut was “reckless” and “amoral”. When seen alongside the sweetheart plea deal he granted Epstein in 2008, when Acosta was the US attorney in Miami, she said, it indicated that the labor secretary did not see protecting vulnerable children as a priority.

“This is now a pattern,” Clark told the Guardian. “Like so many in this administration Mr Acosta chooses the powerful and wealthy over the vulnerable and victims of sexual assault and it is time that he finds another line of work.”

A federal appeals court in Virginia has sided with the president in a lawsuit accusing Trump of illegally profiting off the presidency as a result of his decision to hold on to his business interests while in office.

A three-judge panel of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in Virginia, unanimously overturned the ruling by a federal judge who agreed with the lawsuit brought by the District of Columbia and Maryland that claimed Trump was violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause by making money off of the foreign and domestic officials who stay at his Washington-based Trump International hotel.

The ruling effectively blocks the DC and Maryland attorneys general from pursuing financial information on Trump and the Trump organization.

Trump, who has broken with presidential precedent by not divesting from his businesses, celebrated the decision in a tweet.

The case is only one of several fronts on which Trump faces legal challenges and investigations into his finances from states and Democratic members of Congress.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar today called Fox News host Tucker Carlson a “racist fool” after he delivered a three-minute monologue on air riddled with anti-immigrant rhetoric and personal attacks.

“Not gonna lie, it’s kinda fun watching a racist fool like this weeping about my presence in Congress,” the Minnesota congresswoman write. “No lies will stamp out my love for this country or my resolve to make our union more perfect. They will just have to get used to calling me congresswoman!”

In the segment, aired on Tuesday night, Carlson described Omar as “living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country” and “a living fire alarm”. He also accused her of having “undisguised contempt for the United States and for its people”.

In the segment, Carlson recounted Omar’s journey from Somalia – “one of the world’s poorest countries” – to the US, “the world’s richest country with all the bounty that that implies”, and said she had “a lot to be grateful for”.

“But she isn’t grateful, not at all,” he continued. “After everything America has done for Omar and her family, she hates this country more than ever.”

Omar, one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress and the first person to wear a hijab on the House floor, has become a lightening rod for the right, who question her loyalty to the US The freshman congresswoman said her family received death threats after Trump tweeted an edited video that insinuated she had played down the 9/11 attacks.

Megan Rapinoe, the co-captain of the US women’s soccer team, may have ruled out running for president this year (she’s “busy”), but her remarks at today’s ticker tape parade in New York sounded a lot like a stump speech to us (minus the expletive at the end, of course.)

But that doesn’t mean she won’t be involved in the 2020 race to oust a president who has publicly denigrated her over her refusal to attend a ceremony at the White House. As 2020 campaign takes shape, with women surging to the top of the crowded field, Rapinoe could emerge as a sought after endorsement, especially for the trailblazing candidates in the race.

And even if politics aren’t in her future, Rapinoe, one of the first white athletes to take a kneel during the national anthem in solidarity, a leader of the campaign for equal pay and a forceful critic of the president, is unlikely to stop speaking her mind any time soon.

Here’s the Guardian’s own Bryan Armen Graham who, like the team, is fresh from France, on their victory parade in New York.

Updated

Donald Trump, signing an executive order on kidney health: “Very special, the kidney has a very special place in the heart.”

Robert Foster, a Republican candidate for Governor in Mississippi, has refused to a allow a female political reporter to join him on a ride along unless she was accompanied by a male colleague.

“In two phone calls this week, Colton Robison, Foster’s campaign director, said a male colleague would need to accompany this reporter on an upcoming 15-hour campaign trip because they believed the optics of the candidate with a woman, even a working reporter, could be used in a smear campaign to insinuate an extramarital affair,” Mississippi Today reporter Larrison Campbell wrote, explaining her interaction with the campaign.

“The only reason you think that people will think I’m having a (improper) relationship with your candidate is because I am a woman,” this reporter said.

Robison said the campaign simply “can’t risk it.”

Campbell and her editor agreed the request was “sexist” and an “unnecessary use” of newsroom resources. The told Robinson she would attend the ride along alone. But the campaign insisted she would not be allowed.

On Twitter, Foster defended the decision, saying he and his wife had agreed to “avoid any situation that may evoke suspicion or compromise of our marriage.”

He followed up:

Read Campbell’s full story here.

Report: Trump's Fourth of July 4th extravaganza 'bankrupted' DC security fund, mayor says

Donald Trump’s Fourth of July event cost the DC government $1.7m, an amount that when combined with other related expenses from the weekend, has completely drained a fund used to “protect the nation’s capital from terrorist threats and provide security at events such as rallies and state funerals,” the Washington Post is exclusively reporting.

Trump faced sharp criticism for the event that used taxpayer dollars and placed the president at the center of a holiday celebrating American independence.

In a letter to the president on Tuesday, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) warned that the fund has now been depleted and is estimated to be running a $6 million deficit by Sept. 30. The mayor also noted that the account was never reimbursed for $7.3 million in expenses from Trump’s 2017 inauguration,” the Post reported.

Bowser requested that the White House commit to fully reimbursing the fund.

“We ask for your help with ensuring the residents of the District of Columbia are not asked to cover millions of dollars of federal expenses and are able to maintain our high standards of protection for federal events,” she wrote.

Read the full story here.

Updated

Our reporter Sabrina Siddiqui has been talking to DC power-players about what Darroch’s resignation means. What she found is that despite Trump’s efforts to portray the former ambassador as unpopular and out-of-touch, he was relatively popular in D.C., including among White House officials who regularly attended embassy parties.

Sally Quinn, a Washington socialite who regularly attended Darroch’s parties at the British Embassy, told The Guardian his resignation set the stage for “a very big change in the way diplomacy is conducted”.

“Up until this, I think diplomats were able to communicate to their governments and they were honest and provided valuable information,” Quinn, a former journalist, said. “Clearly, we can’t do that anymore.”

She said the controversy was “embarrassing” for Darroch, whose memos were written with the intention of aiding of his government.

“He wrote what he thought was going to be private, and it wasn’t,” Quinn said, while adding Darroch was by no means alone within the diplomatic community in his assessment of Trump.

“Every word he said was true, and what he said is pretty much unanimous among most of the diplomats in Washington,” Quinn said.

Trump was fuming, she added, because the source of Darroch’s information was likely the president’s own staff, some of whom were frequently spotted at the British ambassador’s parties.

“He entertained constantly at the embassy and he entertained Trump people, because they like him,” Quinn said. “It’s embarrassing for Trump, because he’s got to know it’s coming from the inside.”

“As for Kim, every single diplomat is looking at him and saying, there but for the grace of God go I,” she added. “There is not a single word Kim wrote that isn’t absolutely accurate and isn’t the prevailing view in Washington.”

“It could have been anyone.”

Updated

The Democrat running to unseat Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has raised $2.5m in the first 24 hours after she announced.

Amy McGrath, a retired Marine fighter pilot, rose to prominence in the 2018 midterms as part of a wave of female former members of the armed services who ran for Congress. She narrowly lost a bid for the House of Representatives.

She faces a tough road ahead. Trump won the state by a far wider margin than he won the House district she lost last cycle. But she is seen as a top Democratic recruit and a prodigious fundraiser who could make the race competitive.

In an announcement video released on Tuesday, McGrath recalled writing a letter to McConnell as a 13-year-old girl asking why women couldn’t fly combat jets.

“He never wrote back,” McGrath said.

“I’m Amy McGrath, and I’ve often wondered, how many other people did Mitch McConnell never take the time to write back or even think about?”

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of the USCIS, told reporters at the White House that the raids on immigrant communities are “absolutely going to happen” and declined to give more details about when.

“We’re not going to say,” he told reporters.

Updated

Trump vows new sanctions on Iran

Trump is tweeting this morning about the Iran nuclear deal in response to news that the country moved to increase uranium enrichment that surpasses the threshold reached in the landmark accord.

“Sanctions will soon be increased, substantially!,” Trump tweeted.

Fox News is reporting that Labor Secretary Alex Acosta will address reporters amid calls for his resignation in the wake of his role in cutting a lenient plea deal with financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2008. Several 2020 Democrats, including Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, have called for Acosta’s resignation.

According to Fox, Acosta is not expected to step down.

There are mixed media reports on how willing Trump is to stand by his Labor Secretary.

Updated

Kathleen Sebelius, who served as Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services secretary during the rollout of Obamacare, will not run for the open Kansas Senate seat being vacated by Senator Pat Roberts, according to Politico. Sebelius, one of the most popular Democrats in the state and a former governor, was considered a top recruit for the seat.

Kris Kobach, the controversial Republican former Kansas secretary of state who led Trump’s disbanded electoral commission on voter fraud and the author of hardline immigration legislation, will run for the seat. His candidacy has alarmed Republicans who fear that his nomination could put the seat in a ruby red-state in jeopardy. In 2018, he lost the statewide contest for governor to Democrat Laura Kelly.

New York’s ticker tape parade celebrating the US women’s soccer team is first and foremost about their excellence at the beautiful game. But it’s also very much about politics. Which is how New York governor Andrew Cuomo ended up rolling through downtown New York on a float with Crystal Dunn and Tobin Heath chanting equal pay after signing new pay equality legislation.

Meanwhile New York mayor and 2020 hopeful Bill DeBlasio, who is throwing the parade, is riding on a separate float with several of the other teammates.

Updated

In an emotionally searing interview this morning, Jennifer Araoz accused Jeffrey Epstein sexually assaulting her when she was 14 and then raping her at the age of 15 inside his New York City townhouse.

Federal prosecutors have charged the politically-connected financier with sex trafficking of young girls who he abused at his Manhattan and Palm Beach homes. He counts among his friends Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton, both of whom have sought to distance themselves from Epstein in recent days.

Araoz, now 32, is the latest woman to publicly accuse Epstein of assault when she was a girl.

Updated

Today the House oversight committee is hosting a hearing called “Kids in Cages: inhumane treatment at the border,” ace Guardian reporter Amanda Holpuch tells us.

Among those testifying are an asylum-seeking mother who said her daughter died after being neglected by medical staff at a US Immigration Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center; immigration attorneys who in recent weeks spoke out about the overcrowded, dirty conditions they saw at border patrol facilities; and a doctor calling for medical professionals to be sent into those facilities. Speaking for the US government is the former acting director of Ice, Ron Vitiello.

Attorney Hope Frye, who supervised a team of lawyers’ visit to detention facilities, said she expects that politicians at the hearing seeking to defend Donald Trump’s administration will paint the criticism as partisan. Though, Frye noted, Barack Obama was also criticized by advocates and newspapers for the poor conditions in migrant detention under his watch.

“You can’t make this a partisan political issue,” Frye said. “This is about how Americans treat children. Period. That’s all.”

The House oversight committee is also holding a hearing on Friday to discuss family separation at the border.

Darroch quits and Democrats seek testimony from Mueller deputies

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of politics in Washington and around the country.

This morning, Sir Kim Darroch, the UK ambassador to Washington who has been at the centre of a diplomatic row over leaked cables that were anything but diplomatic in their assessment of Donald Trump, has resigned, the Foreign Office has said.

The Guardian is reporting that his decision to leave the post followed Tuesday’s Conservative leadership debate, in which the frontrunner, Boris Johnson, stopped short of backing him.

Elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal reported over night that Democrats are seeking testimony from two former prosecutors on the special counsel Robert Mueller’s team. We’re at one week and counting until Mueller testifies publicly before Congress. The justice department has recommended the deputies not to testify, according to the New York Times.

The DNC confirmed that the third Democratic debate will be hosted in Houston on September 12 and 13.

The Golden Girls of American soccer will be feted with a ticker tape parade in New York City this morning after winning a fourth World Cup championship. They have become champions for equal pay – and on CNN yesterday co-captain Megan Rapinoe had a message for the president.

And later this morning Trump will deliver remarks and sign an executive order on Advancing American Kidney Health.

Updated

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