1. A secret audio recording captured the cries of several children who were detained and separated from their parents at the border while a Border Patrol agent jokes over the children's screams. "Well," the agent says, "we have an orchestra here, right? … What we're missing is a conductor." (ProPublica / Axios)

  2. A bipartisan group of former U.S. Attorneys published an open letter to Jeff Sessions calling on him to end the policy of separating families at the border. Like a majority of Americans, the letter reads, "we are appalled that your Zero Tolerance policy has resulted in the unnecessary trauma and suffering of innocent children." The letter condemns Sessions and the Trump administration for abandoning the balance between deterrence and compassion in favor of a Zero Tolerance policy. (Medium)

  3. Giuliani admitted that his call to suspend Robert Mueller's probe was actually just a a form of posturing by the president's attorney. "That’s what I’m supposed to do," Giuliani explained. "What am I supposed to say? That they should investigate him forever? Sorry, I’m not a sucker." Giuliani laughed as he was asked what he thought about the fact that Mueller's probe had not been shut down, as he called for last week. "I didn't think it would," he said. "But I still think it should be." (Politico)

  4. Erik Prince said he has "spoken voluntarily to Congress" and that he "cooperated with the special counsel" as part of the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia during the 2016 election. Prince reportedly met with Donald Trump Jr., George Nader, and Israeli social media specialist Joel Zamel at a secret meeting in the Seychelles during the campaign. He also met with Russian sovereign wealth fund manager Kirill Dmitriev during the transition period to set up a backchannel between the Trump administration and Russia. (Daily Beast)

  5. Former CIA engineer Joshua Schulte was indicted on charges that he was responsible for providing classified documents to Wikileaks in what appears to be the largest leak in CIA history. Schulte faces a grand jury indictment for handing over a massive trove of U.S. government hacking tools known as "Vault 7" to Wikileaks, the details of which were published by the organization in March 2017. Schulte was already facing child pornography charges in New York, but the new indictment broadens the case against him to include illegally gathering classified information, damaging CIA computers, lying to investigators, and many other offenses. (Politico)

  6. A foundation established by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and run by his wife is spearheading a real-estate deal backed by the chairman of the oil giant Halliburton, which stands to benefit directly from any decision by the Interior Department to open public lands for oil exploration. The foundation is providing crucial assistance to a group funded by Halliburton chair David Lesar, which is planning a large commercial resort development near Zinke's hometown of Whitefish, Montana. The deal would include a hotel and retail shops, as well as a microbrewery that would be set aside for Zinke and his wife to own and operate. Zinke and his wife also own the property next door to the proposed resort, which would see a substantial increase in value if the deal goes through. (Politico)

  7. The Senate overwhelmingly passed a defense budget bill that reinstates tough penalties against Chinese telecom giant ZTE. The vote is seen as a sharp rebuke of Trump's attempt to make a deal with ZTE, and sets up a rare showdown between Congressional Republicans and the White House. The legislation will head to the House for reconciliation, but the House version of the bill does not include the provision about ZTE. The two chambers must now spend weeks reconciling their differences before the bill can finally pass. (ABC News)