I feel emotionally assaulted by the news cycle.
Here’s all the shit we couldn’t cover today:
- During an event in West Virginia, Trump said that women “are being raped at numbers never seen before” as a caravan of immigrants head towards the United States border. “Yesterday, it came out where this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said. “They don’t want to mention that, so we have to change our laws.” Then, he continued speaking. “Remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower ...Everybody said, ‘Oh, he was so tough.’ I used the word ‘rape,’ he said, referring to a 2015 speech where he describes Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and drug dealers. Trump offered no evidence for his claims since they are nothing more than his own racist fantasies. [NBC News]
- The top ethics official at the Environmental Protection Agency says that he was missing “key facts” when he decided that Scott Pruitt’s condo lease with a lobbyist did not violate federal rules. [Washington Post]
- Pruitt retaliated against top-ranking officials at the EPA, demoting or assigning at least five officials after they voiced concerns about his spending habits. According to the Times, the officials were concerned about “large spending on office furniture and first-class travel, as well as certain demands by Mr. Pruitt for security coverage, such as requests for a bulletproof vehicle and an expanded 20-person protective detail.” [New York Times]
- If you’re having a hard time following the many scandals of the scandal-plagued Pruitt, you can catch up here. Though he might be fired tomorrow and such commitment might ultimately prove a waste of time. [Talking Points Memo]
- Or, perhaps, he will instead be made the next attorney general. [CNN]
- Meanwhile, John Kelly is reportedly losing influence with Trump. [The Hill]
- Scientists are very mad at USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. [The Guardian]
- Scott Lloyd, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, has used his position to impose anti-abortion ideologies on young immigrant women, often preventing them from obtaining an abortion, even as his job description requires that the agency he helms protect refugees. The Times reports that Lloyd keeps a close eye on refugees who have requested an abortion, keeping a “spreadsheet….that tells him about any unaccompanied minors who have asked for [an abortion] and how far along they are in their pregnancy.” [New York Times]