As investigative reporting continues to reveal undermining of U.S. elections, the president’s son posts his own tweets on Russia meetings in lieu of responding to a New York Times request for comment. President Trump tweets a claim that anonymous sources quoted by media are fake. At the White House, there are no on-camera news briefings and reports have some Republican operatives seeing if they can mount a campaign to discredit specific journalists reporting on the unfolding events. On the Hill, House and Senate Intelligence committees and Justice Department investigators are reported to be looking into whether Trump campaign digital operation helped Russians do sophisticated targeting of voters with fake news attacks on Hillary Clinton. And in court, a Twitter user group files suit against the president and two top aides, saying the presidential account amounts to a public forum and he should not be able to block individual citizens from it. -Dru Menaker, Chief Operating Officer

U.S.

Donald Trump Jr. Emails Confirm He Was Solicited With Information From Russians to ‘Incriminate Hillary’
The emails basically confirm Trump Jr. was informed that this campaign dirt came courtesy of “part of a Russian government effort to aid” Trump’s candidacy. In the email, Goldstone writes, “and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary.”
NEW YORK MAGAZINE

Trump Slams Media: ‘Often times those sources are made up and do not exist’
Trump’s tweet come as his son, Donald Trump Jr., faces scrutiny for a meeting he had last year during the presidential campaign with a Russian lawyer. Trump Jr. said that he’d be willing to testify under oath about his election-year meeting with the Russian lawyer.
THE HILL

White House Goes Dark as Questions Swirl Over Russia
Aides struggled to respond to bipartisan criticism over Trump’s first meeting with Putin and new reports that Trump’s son, son-in-law and campaign manager met last summer with a Kremlin-linked lawyer who promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. The White House listed no events on Trump’s schedule, either public ones or the private security briefings typically noted.
LOS ANGELES TIMES

‘Category 5 hurricane’: White House Under Siege by Trump Jr.’s Russia Revelations
A handful of Republican operatives close to the White House are scrambling to Trump Jr.’s defense and have begun what could be an extensive campaign to try to discredit some of the journalists who have been reporting on the matter.
WASHINGTON POST

House Russia Investigators Want to Bring in Trump Digital Director
The House Russia investigation is planning to send an invite to Brad Parscale, who played a critical role in the Trump campaign, directing online spending and voter targeting, as they begin scheduling witnesses. Senate investigators interested in link between fake news that supported Trump and was pinpointed in key areas of Rust Belt states.
CNN

Twitter Users Blocked by Trump File Lawsuit
Represented by the Knight First Amendment Institute blocked Twitter users sue Trump for blocking people from reading his tweets. The lawsuit argued, Mr. Trump is violating their First Amendment rights because they expressed views he did not like. other blocked users have joined the effort.
NEW YORK TIMES

Why the Net Neutrality Protest Matters
About 200 internet companies and activist groups are coming together this week to mobilize their users into opposing US government plans to overturn Obama-era regulation that protected net neutrality, and there is less than a week left for people to object.
THE GUARDIAN

 
Global

Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Laureate, Is Said to Be Suffering Organ Failure
The First Hospital of China Medical University said Wednesday that doctors had recommended tracheal intubation but that his family had rejected the request.
NEW YORK TIMES

Foreign hackers probe European critical infrastructure networks
European infrastructure data networks face regular attacks similar to those which the Washington Post newspaper said on Sunday had been launched by Russian government hackers against business systems of U.S. nuclear power and other companies involved in energy production.
REUTERS

Journalist Killed in DR Congo
A Congolese journalist working for state broadcaster RTNC was killed by an unknown assailant at his home in the northeast of Africa.
AGENCE-FRANCE PRESSE

 

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