1. Trump sent letters to several NATO allies in June and demanded that they increase defense spending and meet their security obligation or face the consequences. One such consequence, Trump hinted, could be an adjustment to the United States' military presence around the world. In his letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump warned that it would "become increasingly difficult to justify to American citizens why some countries do not share NATO’s collective security burden while American soldiers continue to sacrifice their lives overseas or come home gravely wounded." (New York Times)

  2. Leaked copies of several shredded documents that were seized during a raid on Michael Cohen's home and office and reconstructed by the FBI appear to confirm Cohen's $62,500 payment to a former Playboy model on behalf of Elliot Broidy. The leaked documents include handwritten notes about a taxi business, as well as insurance papers, correspondence from a woman described as a “vexatious litigant” who claims she is under government surveillance, and other documents that prosecutors already had in their possession. (BuzzFeed News)

  3. Scott Pruitt and his aides kept secret calendars and schedules specifically to hide controversial meetings or calls with industry representatives and others. Staffers also routinely met in Pruitt's office to "scrub," alter, or remove numerous records from Pruitt's calendar because they might look bad. "We would have meetings [about] what we were going to take off on the official schedule," said Pruitt's former deputy chief of staff Kevin Chmielewski. "We had at one point three different schedules. One of them was one that no one else saw except three or four of us. It was a secret … and they would decide what to nix from the public calendar." (CNN)

  4. Two of Pruitt's top aides also provided new details to congressional investigators about Pruitt's spending and management decisions, his efforts to secure a six-figure job for his wife at a conservative political group, and more. The staffers testified for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week and shed new light on Pruitt's willingness to use his position for personal benefit, ignore warning from allies about potential ethical issues, enlist aides to perform personal tasks, and seek high-end travel despite objections and warnings from staffers. (Washington Post)

    poll/ Voters from both political parties overwhelmingly want the next Supreme Court justice to overturn the 2010 Citizens United decision to allow unlimited money in politics, as opposed to overturning Roe v. Wade. 64 percent of respondents want Trump's pick to "limit the amount of money corporations and unions can spend on political campaigns," while only 29 percent said they want the next justice to make abortion illegal. (Daily Beast / Ipsos)