| | | | | A woman and young girl walk along the Mexico side of the US-Mexico border Tuesday in Tijuana, Mexico. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images | | | DHS Secretary Harassed Out of Mexican Restaurant: Protesters shouted "Shame!" during Kirstjen Nielsen's dinner at MXDC
But Does It Count If Your Dad Says It For You?: Ivanka has yet to weigh in on family separation herself
The US Just Left the UN Human Rights Council: The move comes one day after a UN official called the family separation policy "unconscionable" | | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump today travels to Duluth, Minnesota, for a Make America Great Again rally.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Feels like a weird time to have a rally about greatness.
Yet the Show Must Go On:
Last night at the Trump Hotel in DC, the President attended and spoke for an hour at a private fundraising event, where many of the donor attendees reportedly paid a minimum of six figures to get in. The New York Times had a reporter on the scene and I'm obsessed with the headline on this story: "Outside Trump Hotel, an Uproar. Inside, a Calm Sea of Conservative Cash." Sums it up, and the piece itself is a solid read. TrumpLand is an apparent oasis of calm and happiness and pride. A snippet of the great color:
"'Does anybody here look stressed out?' the conservative commentator Candace Owens asked as she surveyed the lobby. She had a point. The event drew grinning Trump loyalists, including Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary, who recently agreed to serve as a spokesman and senior adviser to America First Action. It drew Donald Trump Jr., the president's oldest son, who had two Secret Service agents in tow. And it drew the occasional pop culture figure, like the retired boxer Evander Holyfield.
Attendees shook hands and greeted each other as fellow "great American patriots." Others posted photographs to social media, with hashtags like #BlackLivesMAGA. Upstairs, in a restaurant, a boy blew out the candles on his birthday cake, pausing to bite the head off a miniature President Trump made of frosting. TVs at the bar tuned to Fox News analysts who rehashed the Justice Department's inspector general report." Also, cakes with mini Trumps made of frosting?? Here's what it looked like in a snap taken by reporter Katie Rogers: | | Credit: @katierogers/Twitter
Just the Words "Tender Age":
Ugh. I can't even. The AP did great reporting last night to uncover where the littlest kids are being held after they are separated from their moms and dads. CNN reported this morning there are babies as young as eight months old at these facilities. | | "Is it Humane?":
If you haven't seen this clip of Wolf Blitzer pressing acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan on whether the policy of separating families is humane, please do. Homan's pauses are infuriating, to be honest, and his answer, "it's the law," even more so.
DHS Secretary Nielsen is Harassed Out of a Mexican Restaurant:
First of all, really? Mexican? But that was the choice for dinner last night for DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who tried to peacefully enjoy her meal at downtown's MXDC Cocina Mexicana, but quickly became the target of protesters who chanted "Shame! Shame!" and harangued her until she fled the place. Today, MXDC released a statement to Washingtonian's Jessica Sidman about the incident. Here's a shot of Nielsen escaping to her Secret Service-driven SUV. | | Credit: @OsitaNwanevu/Twitter
Our Daily Melania:
I was blown away by this incredible image taken of Melania yesterday by Doug Mills of the New York Times. To me it so captured her -- not just by the composition, but the essence of who she is, and her attitude. I've covered her for about a year and a half now, and she is as unflustered and unaffected as anyone I have ever written about as a journalist. It's extremely difficult to rattle her, as is demonstrated here. Now, I know a lot of you will probably say that's because she's not engaged, not paying attention; some would go so far as to call her "eye candy." But I would differ. She is stoic. And I think her mind is somewhere else this week -- I would bet she isn't done talking about or doing something about the children at our borders. Just a hunch. | | Credit: @nytmills/Instagram
But Does it Count if Your Dad Says it For You?:
Ivanka Trump continues to take criticism today for being publicly quiet on what is happening in Texas at our borders. Trump, who is not only a senior adviser to the President but also considers herself a champion of families and women, has yet to say anything directly, but to a crowd of Hill Republicans yesterday, her father said she had talked to him about the issue. Betsy Klein, with a great scoop, got the White House to confirm the conversation, and also spill that Ivanka had made calls to her contacts in Congress to help plead for a legislative solution. Still, it sounds as though Ivanka is sticking by her father, and not pressing him to pick up the phone and swiftly end the practice of separating families at the border ...
Dress Like the First Lady (and bonus, The Queen of Spain):
For her tea with the Queen of Spain at the White House yesterday, Melania went with a tropical-patterned Valentino. It was from the fashion house's 2018 Resort collection, so it's no longer available for sale, but here's what it looked like on the runway in May of 2017. | | Credit: Mandel Ngan/Getty Images, vogue.com
Queen Letizia paid homage to American fashion in her pink Michael Kors Collection dress, available here for $1,695. Melania has the same dress, in blue, which she wore last June to greet the first lady of Panama. | | Credit: Mandel Ngan/Getty Images, michaelkors.com, Pool/Getty Images
I seriously dig that White House photographers are now almost always taking specific shoe shots. I think both women are wearing $625 suede Manolo Blahnik BBs. | | | Credit: Mandel Ngan/Getty Images | | What Washington is Talking About:
The House is considering two different immigration bills, which are expected come up for a vote tomorrow. President Trump provided no clear preference for legislation when he met with lawmakers yesterday. And Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser won yesterday's Dem primary with nearly 80% of the vote.
What America is Talking About:
The Trump administration is reportedly holding babies and young children taken from their parents in three so-called "tender age" facilities in Texas, and Pope Francis has come out against the policy of separating children from their parents at the border, calling it immoral.
Poll of the Day:
An overwhelming majority of Americans -- 83% -- favor allowing immigrants brought into the country illegally as children the chance to become citizens, according to a Gallup poll released today. Gallup asked respondents about four immigration policy proposals, and allowing so-called DREAMers the chance to become citizens was the most popular issue, while building a wall on the US border was the least popular, with 41% support. | | Credit: Gallup
Mexico Responds:
Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray called the Trump administration's family separation policy a "violation of human rights" and "cruel and inhumane" at a news conference in Mexico City Tuesday.
The US Just Left UN Human Rights Council:
One day after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called the Trump administration's family separation policy "unconscionable" and one week after Trump defended Kim Jong Un's human rights abuses, the US is leaving the body's Human Rights Council. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused the council Tuesday of bias against Israel and of allowing countries with records of human rights abuse to remain as members.
Pompeo Celebrates World Refugee Day:
I kid you not, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a statement today for World Refugee Day. No mention of the crisis on the US-Mexico border.
Takei: What's Happening at the Border is "Worse" Than Internment Camps:
Actor George Takei, who was held at Japanese internment camps in Arkansas and California when he was a child, wrote in an op-ed about his experience for Foreign Policy and how much more difficult he imagined it would have been if he was taken from his family.
"At least during the internment, my parents were able to place themselves between the horror of what we were facing and my own childish understanding of our circumstances," he wrote. "At least during the internment, we remained a family, and I credit that alone for keeping the scars of our unjust imprisonment from deepening on my soul."
"Modern Family" Creator Wants to Leave Fox:
The show's co-creator Steve Levitan tweeted that he's "disgusted to work at a company that has anything whatsoever to do with @FoxNews." He said Tuesday that he'll see "Modern Family" "through to the end" and then will "set up shop elsewhere." His comments come after Laura Ingraham called the detention centers "summer camps" and Ann Coulter suggested without evidence that these children are actors. Levitan also said he doesn't have a problem with "fact-based conservatism": | | Credit: @SteveLevitan/Twitter
Street Art Sighting:
This mural of a drag queen Trump by artist Christian Hooker was spotted earlier this month at Astoria, Queen's Welling Court Mural Project by Sher BonDurant. | | Credit: @sherlovesstreetart/Instagram
If you spot political street art, tweet me @hunterschwarz, tag me on Instagram @hunterschwarz, or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com with your sighting so I can feature it in COVER/LINE.
P.S.:
U2 was in town for a pair of performances at Capital One Arena Sunday and Monday, and band members stopped by Capitol Hill while they were here. Bono, who got to ride the underground train, told the Associated Press, "I cannot think of a more un-American thing than warehousing children." | | | Credit: Michael Mathes/AFP/Getty Images | | | | | | |
