1. The RNC paid roughly half-a-million dollars to a law firm representing former White House communications director Hope Hicks and others involved in the Russia probe. Trout Cacheris & Janis received $451,780 from the RNC after Hicks hired the firm's founder as her personal attorney in September. The money used to pay the firm was originally meant to be used for election recounts and other legal matters, but RNC officials concluded that the money could be used to pay for the president's legal fees. (Washington Post)

  2. Incoming NRA president Oliver North blamed school shootings on "youngsters who are steeped in a culture of violence" and young boys who have "been on Ritalin" since early childhood. "They’ve been drugged in many cases," North said. North, who is best known for his role in the Iran-Contra "guns for drugs" scandal, told Fox News, "You are not going to fix it by taking away the rights of law-abiding citizens." (Washington Post)

  3. Three months before the 2016 election, Trump Jr. met with an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation, an emissary for two wealthy Arab princes, and the former head of Blackwater. The meeting between Joel Zamel, George Nader, and Trump Jr. was organized by Erik Prince with the intention of discussing ways to help Trump win the election. The meeting was also a chance to forge relationships between Trump insiders. Trump Jr. responded approvingly to the offers of election assistance, and Nader quickly became a close ally of Trump campaign advisers. (New York Times)

  4. Robert Mueller has expanded his probe and is now looking into the role of Joel Zamel, an Israeli entrepreneur with ties to the U.A.E. Mueller has issued a subpoena for documents related to Zamel's work, but not for Zamel himself. Zamel has previously met with Mueller's team to discuss his relationship with George Nader, who paid Zamel $2 million shortly after Trump was elected. The payment has been described as unrelated to the campaign. (Wall Street Journal)

  5. Giuliani says Mueller plans to wrap up his investigation into possible obstruction of justice by Sept. 1. Giuliani claims Mueller's team showed him their timeline two weeks ago during negotiations over a potential in-person interview with Trump. The end of the obstruction case would not be the end of Mueller's work, as there are still multiple other lines of inquiry that the special counsel and his team are investigating. (New York Times)

  6. Trump demanded that the Justice Department investigate whether the FBI "infiltrated or surveilled" his presidential campaign under Obama's orders. After accusing the FBI without evidence on Friday of sending a spy to infiltrate his campaign, Trump tweeted Sunday afternoon: "I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes, and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!" (New York Times)

  7. The Justice Department has asked its inspector general to determine whether the FBI's investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia was tainted by political motivations. Hours after Trump called for the investigation on Twitter, the Justice Department responded and asked the inspector general to expand an ongoing review of the applications to monitor a former Trump campaign adviser, "to include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election." Rod Rosenstein added: "If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action." (Washington Post / New York Times)