Jeff Sessions will begin testifying soon. I'll be at the jail, but will try to listen on the car radio.
Here's a place to discuss it.

Rod Rosenstein testified this morning and stated only he can fire Mueller. And he would not do so without a good reason. I didn't believe the rumor to begin with-- considering the sources.

Sorry about the lack of blogging this weekend. I just don't feel like writing when all the news is about Trump. And I had more important things to do. Like try and find this pair of sunglasses worn by actress Kate del Castillo. I spent hours online trying to match and find them and couldn't. I ended up going to my local optical shop and buying these, which while different, I really like. [More...]

As of this moment, and of course subject to change (as is everything with the Trump Administration), Jefferson Sessions will testify publicly tomorrow about Russia.

Unfortunately, Senators want to ask him about the one meeting that probably wasn't a meeting, and he'll come out looking okay.

Members of the committee are likely to ask Sessions about a possible third undisclosed meeting that is now under investigation, according to media reports.

There was a meet and greet at the foreign policy speech in April 2016. There are photos of both of them. But according to most people, including the event host, there was just a meet and greet:

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the freeze on Trump's travel ban.

A West Coast federal appeals court upheld the freeze on President Trump’s travel ban Monday, declaring that Trump had exceeded his lawful authority in suspending the issuance of visas to residents of six Muslim majority countries and suspending the U.S. refu­gee program.

...Unlike other courts in the past, the three judges on the 9th Circuit did not dwell on Trump’s public comments. Instead, they ruled that Trump’s travel ban lacked a sufficient national security or other justification that would make it legal.

Trump will probably turn more effort to packing the courts with conservative judges. Rather, he'll let the Federalist Society do the picking. I doubt he'd know how to pick a judge on his own.

I just read that Apple's next Safari browser upgrade will block auto-play videos. It can't come fast enough.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Here's the transcript of the testimony so far.

Sounds like he said he believes Trump is a liar, and that he directed him to drop the Flynn investigation, but he can't say whether Trump committed obstruction of justice.

Was there a smoking gun in his testimony? Not from the news coverage I've seen.

ISIS claimed credit for today's dual attacks inside the Iranian Parliament and at the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic, which killed 12 people and wounded dozens. ISIS's affiliated news agency A'maq posted a short 25 second clip showing one person dead inside parliament.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said:

"The Iranian people are moving forward, and today’s fumbling with firecrackers will not affect the will-power of the people. Everyone must realize this, the terrorists are too small to affect the will of the Iranian people and the authorities'. This also reveals that if the Islamic Republic had not resisted, at the center of all this conspiracy, we would have had much more trouble of this sort in the country. God willing, they will "bite the dust."

[More...]

Here is James Comey's prepared testimony on Trump and Russia. The New York Times has this description.

Trump says Comey's statement vindicates him because it confirms he assured Trump he wasn't personally under investigation.

I don't think that's the issue. The issue is whether he interfered or attempted to interfere in a criminal investigation. There's enough in Comey's statement to show he attempted to interfere with the investigation into Mike Flynn. Comey makes it clear he understood Trump to be requesting the FBI drop the investigation. Is it a smoking gun? No. But it is another loose brick in the wall of the House of Trump, the foundation of which crumbles a bit more every day. [More...]

Donald Trump will nominate Christopher Wray, a former Deputy AG under GW Bush, for Director of the FBI.

The third London attacker has been identified as Youssuf Zaghba, 22, who lived in East London. He is an Italian national.

The third London Bridge attacker has been named as Youssef Zaghba, a 22-year-old son of an Italian mother and Moroccan father who was reportedly stopped at Bologna airport in 2016 bound for Syria via Turkey and told officials “I am going to be a terrorist”.

....According to reports in the Italian press, Zaghba had recently been working in a Pakistani restaurant in London. He was reported to have been on Italy’s list of persons at risk.

Italian officials say they notified British police about him when he left for London: [More...]

The New York Times reports Donald Trump is unhappy with his AG pick, Jefferson Sessions. There seems to be two reasons: He regards Sessions' immigration memo as a "watered down" version of his executive order, and he's mad that Sessions recused himself on Russia.

This sounds more like water-cooler gossip to me than facts suggesting Sessions' tenure will be short-lived.

However, Mr. Trump is said to be aware that firing people now, on the heels of dismissing James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, would be risky. He has invested care and meticulous attention to the next choice of an F.B.I. director in part because he will not have the option of firing another one. The same goes for Mr. Sessions, these people said.

I wish it were otherwise, but I don't think it is.

Time for a new open thread, all topics welcome.