1. Trump suggested his supporters might “demand that I stay longer” than two terms as president. “At the end of 6 years,” Trump tweeted, “after America has been made GREAT again and I leave the beautiful White House (do you think the people would demand that I stay longer? KEEP AMERICA GREAT), both of these horrible papers will quickly go out of business & be forever gone!” Trump has joked before about serving more than two terms, including in April when he told a crowd that he might remain in office “at least for 10 or 14 years.” The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits the presidency to two terms, but Trump also joked last year about doing away with term limits entirely while praising Xi Jinping for doing so in China. “He’s now president for life. President for life. No, he’s great,” Trump told the crowd. “And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.” (Washington Post / The Independent)

  2. Congressional leaders from both parties will meet this week in an attempt to reach a deal to avoid tens of billions of dollars in automatic spending cuts this fall. Neither side says they are close to reaching an agreement at the moment, and Republicans have acknowledged that they’re even having trouble finding a common position with the White House. At stake is $125 billion in automatic, mandatory spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic spending unless a deal is reached to increase those limits. (Politico)

  3. The U.S. has been launching targeted cyberattacks against Russia’s electric power grid without Trump’s approval. Officials have framed the increased attacks as a demonstration of U.S. cyber warfare capabilities under a new set of legal authorities and as a way of “signalling” to the Trump administration’s more aggressive posture to Vladimir Putin. The administration refused to provide any details about the specific attacks or the new authorities granted to U.S. Cyber Command by the White House and Congress, which were inserted into the military authorization bill passed by Congress last summer. The measure authorizes the routine use of “clandestine military activity” in cyberspace at the behest of the defense secretary without requiring presidential approval. Two administration officials said they didn’t think Trump had been briefed about the attacks on Russia’s electrical grid. (New York Times)

  4. poll/ 27% of Americans say there’s enough evidence to begin impeachment hearings now — up 10 points from last month. 24 percent think Congress should continue investigating to see if there’s enough evidence to hold impeachment hearings in the future — down eight points from last month. 48 percent believe that Congress should not hold impeachment hearings and that Trump should finish out his term as president — the same as last month. (NBC News)

  5. poll/ 50% of Americans believe the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia — up six points over the last three months — compared to 44% who do not believe there was coordination. (Fox News)