The Trump Dump

Slate - On Wednesday, we got the latest indicator of how bereft the Trump administration is of standards and how contemptuous it is of people who might know better with Politico’s report that the White House is hiring a college senior to be what Politico describes as “one of the top officials in its powerful Presidential Personnel Office.” James Bacon, a 23-year-old undergraduate at George Washington University, is being installed as the office’s director of operations and right-hand man to the PPO’s new 29-year-old director, John McEntee. Bacon’s role appears to be to help McEntee carry out a purge of insufficiently loyal Trump appointees as part of a “re-vetting” process.

Trump is furious with the CDC for doing its job

Donald Trump offered to pardon Julian Assange if he said that Russia was not involved in a leak of Democratic party emails ahead of the 2016 US election, a court has heard.