The Morning Briefing: Border 'Crisis,' Senate Hearing Tooth Fairy, and Much, Much More

Good Tuesday morning.

Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:

The president delivers remarks at the National Federation of Independent Businesses 75th anniversary celebration
President Trump participates in the arrival of Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain
The president meets with Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain
President Trump participates in an expanded bilateral meeting with His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain
The president signs the 10 millionth United States patent
President Trump delivers remarks to the House Republican Conference
The president delivers remarks at dinner with supporters

Wray, Horowitz appear before Senate Judiciary Committee

Yesterday, FBI director Chris Wray and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the inspector general’s report that was released last week. Today, the two will appear before the a joint hearing of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The elevator pitch version of the IG report can be summarized as follows: the investigation found there was mind-blowing bias among senior officials in the FBI/DOJ against Trump and his moron supporters but the officials claimed it didn’t affect any of their investigations so it’s all good. Move along now.

A few things that came out of the hearing:

The Democrats were uniformly concerned with establishing that the report does not exonerate Trump.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was not buying that the over-the-top bias had no effect on the Clinton investigation.
Comey may be in more trouble. Twitter personality and former FBI Director James Comey has been too busy gallivanting around to media appearances and book tours to make any appearances before congressional committees. IG Horowitz confirmed he is looking into Comey’s memo leak to his FBI employee/”lawyer.” Another report is coming.
Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is interested in Comey’s use of private email for agency business.
Wray said he will hold accountable “any employee for potential misconduct.” The director said, “We will not hesitate to hold people accountable. We won’t hesitate to throw the book at people who violate” FBI policies. I’m not optimistic.

Let’s see what happens in the House hearing today.

Senate panel trashes Comey at FBI hearing

Republicans demand names of anti-Trump FBI employees from bombshell IG report

Sudden border crossing “crisis” dominates headlines

The media and the Democrats continue to sensationalize the border crossings “crisis.” What exactly is the “crisis”? It’s that the Trump administration is prosecuting people who illegally cross into the U.S. and if they have children with them, the children are removed from the illegal crossers and put into a separate facility. That is the law and the Democrats and the media are clamoring for the administration to ignore the law—but not really because they love having this as a political issue. In fact, all the politicians who are unhappy with the law and shrieking like banshees can change it because that is their job. It’s literally their job to make policies. Families with children who ask for asylum but do not illegally enter the U.S. first are not separated, but the grandstanders are not mentioning that. They are leading people to believe that all families are being torn asunder by the monsters in the Trump administration.

“The Obama administration, the Bush administration all separated families,” DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said. “They absolutely did.”

“Surely it is the beginning of the unraveling of democracy when the body who makes the laws, instead of changing them, tells the enforcement body not to enforce the law,” Nielsen said. “I ask Congress to act this week so that we can secure our borders and uphold our humanitarian ideas.”

The situation was the same under Obama, as Breitbart reporter Brandon Darby pointed out on Twitter yesterday. If you believe that outrage and indignation is anything but politically motivated, take a look at what Darby was pointing out before Trump was elected. Where was the outrage?

WH Reporter Brags About Disrupting Briefing By Playing Audio Of Crying Children

Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Sandberg donate to charity helping separated migrant families: report

McCain calls on Trump to rescind family separation policy: It’s ‘an affront to the decency of the American people’

Nancy Pelosi Calls On Secretary Nielsen To Resign Amid Migrant Crisis

Why Weren’t Liberals Furious About These Photos Of Illegal Immigrant Detentions Under Obama?

Ted Cruz proposes emergency bill to keep immigrant families together

Pushing back on Trump, all Senate Democrats now back bill to stop family separations

Historical picture of the day:

President Ronald Reagan gestures during his nationally televised press conference, June 19, 1985 at the White House in Washington. The president declared that the United States is being attacked by international terrorists who wantonly kill, and urged Americas to steer clear of countries in the Middle East that do not condemn the seizure of the TWA airliner and its passengers. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)

Other morsels:

Emails Suggest EPA Officials Colluded With Lobbyists To Thwart Trump’s Agenda

Poll: GOP challenger narrowly leads Heitkamp in North Dakota

Ex-CIA engineer charged with massive leak to WikiLeaks

Smoking reaching all-time low with US adults, government report shows

Federal judge tosses Kansas voter ID law, orders state’s top prosecutor to undergo legal training

2 dead and 6 men wounded in southern Sweden drive-by shooting

Judge cancels hearing in Stormy Daniels case against Trump, Cohen

Study: The states with the most psychopaths seem to be blue

Trump surprises with consumer agency pick

White male doctors’ portraits to be taken down from honored spot at Harvard hospital

University Settles Lawsuit After Discriminating Against Republicans