The Morning Briefing: Justice Dept. Tells Mueller to Stay in His Box

Good Tuesday morning.

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

The president delivers remarks at Turning Point USA’s Teen Student Action Summit 2019
President Trump has lunch with the Secretary of State
The president receives his intelligence briefing
President Trump meets with Republican members of the Senate

DoJ Tells Mueller: Stay in your box

The Justice Department sent a letter to Congress’ latest pony show Robert Mueller yesterday instructing him to stay in his box.

“Any testimony must remain within the boundaries of your public report because matters within the scope of your investigation were covered by executive privilege, including information protected by law enforcement, deliberative process, attorney work product, and presidential communications privileges,” Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer wrote in a letter to Mueller. Mueller already said in his prior press conference that he wouldn’t testify before Congress because the report that deep state mascot Andrew Weissman wrote was his testimony.

“These privileges would include discussion about investigative steps or decisions made during your investigation not otherwise described in the public version of your report,” Weinsheimer wrote.

“Consistent with standard practice, Department witnesses should decline to address potentially privileged matters, thus affording the Department the full opportunity at a later date to consider particular questions and possible accommodations that may fulfill the committees’ legitimate need for information while protecting Executive Branch confidentiality interests,” he added.

Mueller will begin his testimony Wednesday morning. Get ready, get munchies, beverages and prepare a comfortable place on your couch. I hear the Democrats have been rehearsing for the event so we should be getting a great show!

I hear Coats is out. Trump met with Nunes to talk intel chief replacements

GREAT READ. The Shaky Standing of Mueller’s Footnotes

Was Comey conducting a secret investigation of President Trump?

Over at RealClearInvestigations, Paul Sperry broke some news about everyone’s favorite emo-spook. According to Sperry, a report being prepared by Inspector General Michael Horowitz will include evidence that Comey repeatedly misled Donald Trump to cover up what appears to have been a covert operation targeting the president.

Two U.S. officials briefed on the IG report told Paul Sperry that, among other things, Comey added notes of numerous meetings and phone calls with Trump to the official case file of the Crossfire Hurricane and that Comey had an agent inside the White House, Anthony Ferrante, who reported back to FBI headquarters about Trump and his aides.

Oh wow, that sounds really sneaky. No wonder he wouldn’t tell the public what he was telling the president in private.

Trump makes budget deal with Chuck, Nancy, Kevin, and Mitch

On Monday evening, President Trump announced that he had reached a deal with congressional leaders on the budget.

I am pleased to announce that a deal has been struck with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy – on a two-year Budget and Debt Ceiling, with no poison pills….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2019

Part of the deal included suspending the debt limit until 2021, you know, after the 2020 elections. Chuck and Nancy said they “have achieved an agreement that permanently ends the threat of the sequester.”

“We are pleased that the Administration has finally agreed to join Democrats in ending these devastating cuts, which have threatened our investments to keep America Number One in the global economy and to ensure our national security,” Pelosi and Schumer stated. “With this agreement, we strive to avoid another government shutdown, which is so harmful to meeting the needs of the American people and honoring the work of our public employees.”

A vote could come this week, as these miscreant taxpayer-parasites will be leaving for their SIX-WEEK LONG RECESS at the end of the week.

Other morsels:

Mexican Federal Police accused of harassment at migrant shelter, latest in a series

Trump pushes on with immigration crackdown despite legal hurdles

Trump lashes out at media after border criticism

Mexican Authorities Find Migrant Smuggling Ring Using Delivery Trucks

Megan Rapinoe Said Trump’s ‘Crazy’ Tweets About Her ‘United Everyone Around’ The Women’s Soccer Team

Venezeula capital plunges into darkness after massive power outage

Racing pigeon in Indonesia sells for over $100K

We Finally Have an Explanation for the Sudden Cancellation of Mike Pence’s New Hampshire Trip

There’s ‘poop in the water’ at America’s dirtiest beaches. Is yours on the list?

Seems important. South Korea says it fired hundreds of warning shots at Russia warplanes