1. Government 'needs a good shutdown,' frustrated Trump tweets
Associated Press: President Donald Trump declared yesterday that the U.S. government "needs a good shutdown" this fall to fix a "mess" in the Senate, signaling on Twitter his displeasure with a bill to keep operations running. But Republican leaders and Trump himself also praised the stopgap measure as a major accomplishment and a sign of his masterful negotiating with Democrats.
On the defensive, Trump and his allies issued a flurry of contradictory statements ahead of key votes in Congress on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to keep the government at full speed through September. After advocating for a future shutdown, the president hailed the budget agreement as a boost for the military, border security and other top priorities.
2. White House says budget deal contains wall funding
CNN: White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said yesterday that the White House plans to use monies in a border security spending increase to initiate construction of the border wall at the core of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
Mulvaney said the Trump administration will use several hundred million dollars of a $1.5 billion border security spending increase approved in the soon-to-be-approved bipartisan budget deal to begin work on the wall.
"When you heard in the last 48 hours about the deal, did you think we could build this?" Mulvaney said, pointing to a picture of 20-foot high steel wall on the US-Mexico border. "I bet you didn't. Nobody did. OK."
That's despite the fact Democrats touted the agreement as a win and claimed it blocked new funding for border wall construction.
3. Intel on an 'imminent threat' drove airline electronics ban, top lawmaker says
PROMOTE DAVEED 7A Fox News: Strong intelligence pointing to an "imminent threat" drove the decision in March to ban large electronics in carry-on baggage on flights into the U.S., according to a senior House Republican.
"Specific and credible intelligence that there was an imminent threat to our aviation sector" was behind the decision, House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, told Fox News. "I think the administration took very responsible actions to safeguard the safety of Americans here in the homeland."
The ban on electronics larger than iPhones applied to 10 airports in eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
4. Kurt Daudt still considering running for governor, won’t run for Congress
PIONEER PRESS: House Speaker Kurt Daudt is continuing to think about running for governor — but on Saturday shot down rumors that he might run for Congress in the 8th Congressional District.
“I am not looking at running for the 8th District,” Daudt said Saturday at the Republican Party’s state central committee meeting in St. Cloud. “I’ll take a look at the governor’s race after session. But I haven’t made any decisions.”
Daudt, a Republican from Crown, has been considering a race for governor for some time. Nearly a dozen candidates in both parties are already running, with more considering entering the race. Incumbent Gov. Mark Dayton is not seeking another term in 2018.
Political insiders have wondered recently if Daudt, who lives in the 8th District, might consider
a run for Congress instead. The 8th District is currently represented by U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, a Democrat, who has not decided whether to seek another term or to run for governor.
5. Someone wrote bad checks for 600 boxes of Girl Scout cookies
PIONEER PRESS: St. Paul police are investigating a report that someone passed bad checks to Girl Scouts, getting away with more than 600 boxes of cookies throughout the Twin Cities.
The Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys office in St. Paul contacted police Friday to say they received nine worthless checks — with the same name on them — for Girl Scout cookies in St. Paul, Maplewood, Minneapolis, Shakopee, Brooklyn Park and other locations, according to Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman. The Girl Scouts were scammed of about $2,400, he said.
“These young girls work hard to sell their cookies,” Ernster said. “They work with honesty and fairness in mind as they make these transactions. To think that a person would target them for this type of fraud is unthinkable. This case is under investigation, but we are optimistic that the person responsible will be held accountable.”
Police did not release the name on the checks. The director of product program at Girl Scouts River Valleys, said individual troops alerted them to the bad checks, as did their internal audits. She said, “We work with the troops so if anything like this happens, (the council office) takes care of it, so they’re not burdened with the lost money.”
Girl Scouts River Valleys, which covers 49 counties in southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin and one county in Iowa, sold more than 4.4 million packages of cookies this year, Ross said. She said it’s rare to encounter someone defrauding them.