CNN

The Senate left for its August break on Thursday, but it won’t technically be in recess. And that will stop President Donald Trump from filling executive branch spots without senators’ OK.

The FBI monitored social media on Election Day last year in an effort to track a suspected Russian disinformation campaign utilizing “fake news,” CNN has learned.

“Are there any Russians here?”

There was a line of thinking in Washington this week that President Donald Trump might scale back his rhetoric on the ongoing special counsel investigation into Russia, the result of a new White House chief of staff in John Kelly and a reshuffled legal team.

Federal investigators exploring whether Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian spies have seized on Trump and his associates’ financial ties to Russia as one of the most fertile avenues for moving their probe forward, according to people familiar with the investigation.

President Donald Trump is set to depart the White House later today for a 17-day working vacation at his golf club in New Jersey.