It’s Wednesday, July 3, 2019. Let’s start here.
1. Party crasher
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., scored big with her first Democratic debate performance, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Harris is tied for third place with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., at 11%, according to the poll, with former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., at the top of the heap with 29% and 23%, respectively. Among respondents, 41% said Harris stood out in her performance, 15 to 22 points in front of Biden, Sanders or Warren.
“Kamala Harris is coming on very strong here and has crashed the party of the top-tier contenders,” ABC News Political Director Rick Klein says on “Start Here.” “It is a direct result, according to our poll, of the debate.”
2. ‘Salute to America’
President Donald Trump has hyped up a parade, a concert and a show of force on the National Mall for the Fourth of July, but the White House is facing a backlash over the cost of the taxpayer-funded event and whether it’s turning the holiday into a political rally.
Big 4th of July in D.C. “Salute to America.” The Pentagon & our great Military Leaders are thrilled to be doing this & showing to the American people, among other things, the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World. Incredible Flyovers & biggest ever Fireworks!
Trump will address the nation from the Lincoln Memorial at his “Salute to America” event, a break from tradition where U.S. presidents generally avoiding the spotlight on America’s birthday.
“We’ve been told that this is not expected to be a political speech — the president has said that — but sources in the White House are cautioning [that] you never know what the president is going to do here,” ABC News’ Katherine Faulders tells us. “Democrats in Washington, D.C., already view the president trying to turn this into a political event and not a celebration of America.”
3. A fine state of affairs
The Trump administration is fining people who are living in the U.S. illegally and refusing deportation orders, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed, with some undocumented immigrants being told they owe hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The president signed an executive order upon taking office that called for collecting fines from immigrants “unlawfully present in the United States and from those who facilitate their presence in the United States.”
Those who defy orders to leave, such as immigrants seeking sanctuary in churches, are facing up to $799 in daily fines, according to ICE. The agency said officials began issuing fines in December.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty shares what she’s heard from immigration lawyers: “For one of these clients, they’ve been sitting in a church in North Carolina for almost a year. That fine equals $300,000.”
4. War crimes
Former Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, who was accused of war crimes, including the killing of a teenage ISIS prisoner in Iraq in 2017, was acquitted of all charges on Tuesday except for taking a photo with the body of a dead captive.
But the most shocking part of the trial was a fellow service member’s testimony. SEAL Corey Scott told the military jury that while Gallagher stabbed the prisoner, it was him, not Gallagher, who blocked the teen’s airway, killing the prisoner to prevent him from being tortured by Iraqi forces.
The SEAL community has been held in high esteem since the raid that captured Osama bin Laden, but this case has revealed a different side of the service members, according to ABC News’ Luis Martinez, who says the trial “exposed a lot of the SEAL community’s dirty laundry.”
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Elsewhere:
‘You want to experience it as many times as you can’: In Argentina, a total eclipse of the sun is seen.
‘The printer has been instructed to begin the printing process’: The 2020 U.S. Census, after a Supreme Court decision last week, is being prepared without a citizenship question.
From our friends at FiveThirtyEight:
NBA Free Agency Diary: Waiting on Kawhi could mean the Lakers miss out on everyone: Leonard has the Lakers, Clippers and Raptors on hold for the moment, as executives from those teams nervously grind their teeth while hoping for the best.
Doff your cap:
Throughout recorded history, the United States has proven quite capable of defeating England.
Tuesday was no different, as goals by Christen Press and Alex Morgan propelled the U.S. to a deserved 2-1 victory over the Brits and into Sunday’s FIFA Women’s World Cup Final against the winner of today’s Netherlands-Sweden matchup.
Against either, the U.S. is an overwhelming favorite, according to our friends at FiveThirtyEight.
