LIVE STREAM: White House press briefing with Sarah Huckabee Sanders (8/1/17)

Tuesday White House press briefing will be on-camera at 2 p.m.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House press secretary

WASHINGTON – The cameras will be on for Tuesday's White House press briefing with Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The press briefing is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. from the White House. You can watch it live here.

Recommended Videos



Here's what is going on in Washington D.C.:

President Donald Trump says he won't stay off social media

President Donald Trump may be trying for a reset in the West Wing, but he is making clear that he is not changing his twitter habit.

On Twitter Tuesday, Trump said: "Only the Fake News Media and Trump enemies want me to stop using Social Media (110 million people). Only way for me to get the truth out!"

The tweet came one day after retired Gen. John Kelly took over as Trump's new chief of staff. Tapped to bring order to the chaotic West Wing, Kelly quickly made his presence known on Monday -- ousting newly appointed communications director Anthony Scaramucci and revising the command structure so that all senior staffers report to him.

Those moves were praised Monday by Trump allies and lawmakers, who expressed hope that Kelly would help stem internal conflicts and advance a policy agenda after six months of tumult. But less clear is how much control Kelly will have over Trump's predilection for sowing conflict and making off-the-cuff comments on social media.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, speaking on NBC's "Today Show," said he was encouraged by Kelly's new role, but stressed that he was looking for "discipline" from Trump in order to move forward with issues like health care and tax reform.

"He has an obligation to be president for all of us and stop the chaos. Most of the chaos is generated by him and no one else," Graham said.

US factory activity grew more slowly in July

U.S. factories expanded again last month -- a good sign for the economy. But pace of growth was down from June.

The Institute for Supply Management reports that its manufacturing index slipped to 56.3 from the June reading of 57.8. Still, anything above 50 signals that manufacturers are expanding, and America's factories have been on an 11-month winning streak.

U.S. factories have largely recovered from a slump in late 2015 and early 2016 caused by cutbacks in the energy industry and a strong dollar, which makes U.S. goods more expensive in foreign markets.

Factory orders, production and hiring all grew more slowly in July. Export orders also grew but at a slower clip.

Fifteen of 18 manufacturing industries reported growth in July, led by makers of plastic and rubber products.

The Commerce Department reported last week that orders for long-lasting factory goods rose in June at the fastest pace since July 2014. But the number was inflated by a surge in orders for commercial aircraft, which bounce around wildly from month to month.

And the Labor Department reports that factory hiring has been sputtering recently. Manufacturers added just 8,000 jobs from April through June, the weakest three-month performance since November 2016.

The U.S. economy -- measured by gross domestic product -- expanded at a 2.6 percent annual pace from April through June, up from a lackluster 1.2 percent in the first quarter.

Michael Pearce, U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said the July ISM manufacturing index reading "is consistent with GDP growth remaining above 2 (percent) going into the second half of the year."

WaPo: Trump helped come up with misleading statement on Jr.'s meeting

In response to New York Times reporting that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer during the campaign, President Donald Trump dictated a misleading statement for his son, The Washington Post reported Monday evening.

The Post, citing multiple people with knowledge of the situation, said the original plan in response to the Times' reporting was to issue a truthful statement ahead of the story, but then Trump personally decided to have the statement say Trump Jr. had met with the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, to discuss adoption of Russian children by people in the US. The Post reports that Trump dictated the statement while flying back to Washington from the G20 summit in Hamburg, aboard Air Force One.

One of Trump's advisers told the Post that Trump's move was "unnecessary" and warned that it opened Trump up to criticism that he was seeking to obfuscate the full truth about the meeting.

The adviser said Trump was treating the entire situation as a political problem -- when it is also potentially a legal one, involving several congressional investigations and a Department of Justice special counsel probe led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller.


About the Authors

Ken Haddad has proudly been with WDIV/ClickOnDetroit since 2013. He also authors the Morning Report Newsletter and various other newsletters, and helps lead the WDIV Insider team. He's a big sports fan and is constantly sipping Lions Kool-Aid.

Recommended Videos