| INTERNATIONAL: Trump’s big meeting in Finland is not the only global news we’re watching… (The Washington Post offers a smart analysis today of the president’s international travels and techniques, a year and a half into his term.) U.K. and Europe: The president left chaos in his wake last week (The Hill) … What if the United States committed 4 percent of Gross Domestic Product to defense as a member of NATO, as Trump suggested while in Brussels? It would mean another $181 billion spent on defense in 2018 (The Hill) … Trump tweets today that he left NATO “strong and rich,” with a successful gathering (Reuters). > British Prime Minister Theresa May told the BBC that Trump offered her advice not to negotiate with the European Union (EU) on Brexit, but instead to sue the EU –— advice she opted not to heed. > Trump described the EU as a “foe” during a Saturday interview with the CBS Evening News. That comment sparked a retort from European Council President Donald Tusk, who refuted the president’s comment via Twitter. 
© Twitter > Meanwhile in England, the deadly Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok was found in a small bottle in the home of a British woman, Dawn Sturgess, who died July 8 after becoming ill June 30. Her partner, also exposed to the poison, remains in critical condition (ABC News) … Sturgess’s 19-year-old son asked Trump to raise the circumstances of his mother’s death with Putin today (The Guardian). North Korea: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says U.S. officials expect today to return to talks with Pyongyang about the return of U.S. military service members’ remains in that country, and other issues. 
© Twitter Iran: The fate of American captives held in Iran remains uncertain, The New York Times magazine reports. In addition to former FBI agent and private investigator Robert Levinson, who worked for the CIA and has been missing in Iran since 2007, Iran is known to be holding Baquer Namazi, 81, a former UNICEF diplomat; his son Siamak Namazi, 46, a business consultant; Karan Vafadari, 56, an art dealer; Morad Tahbaz, 62, an environmental activist; and Xiyue Wang, 37, a Princeton University graduate student (The New York Times). Africa: Former President Obama travels from Kenya to South Africa today. In Kenya, he speaks at the inauguration of the Sauti Kuu Foundation center for sports and vocational training for young people. In South Africa, where he’ll be traveling through July 19, Obama will meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa and deliver the 16th Nelson Mandela Foundation annual lecture in Johannesburg on July 17. *** SUPREME COURT: Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) announced her opposition to Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court on Friday. Trump narrowly (10,704 votes) captured Michigan in 2016, while Obama won the state twice. Senate Democratic leaders are trying to corral their conference in an attempt to block Kavanaugh’s chances of getting 51 votes, a long shot considering the intense political pressure trained on 10 Senate Democratic incumbents running in states Trump won in 2016. (Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin last week announced her intention to vote against Kavanaugh in a state the president won by 22,748 votes.) Stabenow, who opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination in 2006 to become an appeals court judge, and Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters on Friday announced their misgivings about the nominee’s potential impact on the court (The Detroit News). “Based on the large number of cases and opinions written throughout Judge Kavanaugh’s career, it is clear that he has chosen to side with the wealthiest special interests over the majority of Americans time after time.” – Stabenow Before those objections last week, CNN offered its Senate whip tally. Among Democratic senators representing states that supported Trump’s election is Doug Jones of Alabama. The Supreme Court battle pits Jones against the conservative leanings of his constituents, as the GOP eyes avenues to unseat him in 2020 (The Hill). West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, up for reelection in November, is among those facing a choice of defying his party or joining Republican colleagues to support Kavanaugh. Frustrated with partisan pressure from Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D), Manchin pushed back last week against the New York liberal (The Hill). Democratic Party factions are airing the infighting, sparring publicly with one another over tactics to oppose Kavanaugh (The Hill). Meanwhile, suburban and independent voters say they’re not following the Supreme Court nomination battle in Washington all that closely (The Associated Press). In advance of Senate confirmation hearings weeks from now, Americans are learning more about the 53-year-old jurist’s background. Kavanaugh has a voluminous paper trail, and Democrats want to thoroughly vet the nominee (The Hill) … The White House is touting his support among his female law clerks … Kavanaugh’s track record as a Harvard professor was explored by The Boston Globe … Issue advocacy groups, such as the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence, are burying senators in research they’re compiling to describe “grave concerns” about Kavanaugh’s potential impact on issues that will come before the Supreme Court. Groups on all sides of the nomination are preparing lists of questions to suggest to members of the Judiciary Committee. The Wall Street Journal: Kavanaugh’s collegial nature could change tenor of the court. Poll: Kavanaugh is drawing mixed initial reviews from adults surveyed July 10-11, embarking on the confirmation process with less public support than Neil Gorsuch attracted in 2017, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds (The Huffington Post). | 
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