As frustration over President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war mounts within the Republican party, some senators are weighing confrontation. “I’d like to kill ’em,” said Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, referring to the administration’s expanding list of tariffs. He is pushing legislation in his Finance Committee to reign Trump in — an effort that seems to have more support from GOP leaders than some that would place new checks on the president’s power to impose tariffs. Hatch “is pretty fired up,” one top Senate Republican said. [Politico]
Happy Tuesday!
Topping the news: A medical marijuana initiative appears headed for the November ballot after Drug Safe Utah, an opponent of the measure, dropped its federal lawsuit aimed at blocking voters from weighing in on the proposal. [Trib] [Fox13] [KUTV] [KUER]
--> A quarter of Republican and independent voters would be most likely to support former Rep. Jason Chaffetz if he ran for Utah governor in 2020, according to a new Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll. [Trib]
--> The Daily Caller, a conservative news outlet, reports that Utah Sen. Mike Lee is no longer one of Trump’s top choices to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. [Trib]
Tweets of the day: From @cabot_phillips: “Trump should honestly just pick a random Chick Fil A employee as the next Supreme Court Justice. They’d be fair, hard working and efficient. And after every case they’d end it with ‘my pleasure.’”
-> From @lauriecrosswell: "Trump says he met with 4 candidates for the Supreme Court seat. My guesses as to their identities: 1) Judge Jeanine 2) Roseanne Barr 3) Siri 4) A MAGA hat”
-> From @thesidetrack: “How do you do Millennial looking for housing let me show you our newest development 35 minutes south of Price-- Wait, where are you going? IT HAS A POOL!”
Happy birthday: To former state Rep. David Clark and Jordan Giles, former district office manager for Rep. Chris Stewart.
Programming note: Political Cornflakes will be off Wednesday for the Fourth of July but back in your inboxes and on your computer screens bright and early Thursday morning.
In other news: Ending a six-year legal battle, a federal judge declined to reopen a voting rights case filed by Navajo residents that accused San Juan County’s Republican leaders of political domination over American Indians. [Trib] [Fox13]
-> Brigham Young University officially recognizes 257 student clubs and lists 97 “not recognized” clubs on its student association website — but the LGBTQ club Understanding Same Sex Attraction, which formed in 2010, is not included on either list. [Trib]
-> Joshua Holt, a Utahn who was recently released from a Venezuelan jail after being held for two years there as a political prisoner, was honored at the Provo Freedom Awards Gala with his wife, Thamara Caleno. [APviaTrib] [DailyHerald]
-> Robert Gehrke gives his take on a plan to revive Salt Lake City’s Wingpointe golf course, which closed in 2015. [Trib]
-> In honor of Independence Day, Pat Bagley depicts a dog’s response to fireworks. [Trib]
Nationally: President Donald Trump reportedly reviewed four candidates on Monday to replace Justice Kennedy: Amy Coney Barrett of the Seventh Circuit; Brett M. Kavanaugh of the DC Circuit; and Raymond M. Kethledge and Amul R. Thapar of the Sixth Circuit. [NYTimes]
-> Democrats are using Trump’s highly publicized list of potential Supreme Court nominees, which helped him win over doubtful conservatives during the 2016 presidential election, as a running start in their race against the pick. [Politico]
-> Ahead of a NATO summit next week in Brussels, Trump wrote to several of the treaty’s allies and warned that they are spending too little on defense and are failing to meet the security obligations shared by the alliance. [NYTimes]
-> An analysis of State Department data shows a drop — on pace to reach 12 percent by the end of Trump’s first two years in office — in the number of people receiving visas to move permanently to the United States. [WaPost]
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-- Taylor Stevens and Connor Richards
Follow @sltribpolitics