Tipsheet: Midterms likely to be most expensive ever as TV ads pass billion-dollar mark

View in your browser     Midterms likely to be most expensive ever as TV ads pass billion-dollar mark By Reid Wilson   Campaigns, political parties and outside groups have booked or aired more than $1 billion in television advertising, months before voters head to the polls in November in what is likely to become the most expensive midterm election campaign in U.S. history. Read the full story here     House GOP starts summer break on a note of friction By Scott Wong and Olivia Beavers   House Republicans weren’t talking about the economy as they left Washington for the August recess before a challenging midterm.  Read the full story here     Grassley request some but not all of Kavanaugh papers at Bush White House By Jordain Carney Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is escalating a battle with Democrats over documents tied to Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, requesting that only some of the papers demanded by the minority be turned over. Read the full story here     Republicans weigh punting Trump border wall fight until after midterms By Jordain Carney Congressional Republicans are mulling delaying a fight over funding President Trump's border wall until after the November midterm elections, while Congress has until just Sept. 30 to pass funding legislation and avoid its third shutdown of the year. Read the full story here       Trump takes victory lap on big GDP number By Vicki Needham and Sylvan Lane President Trump took a victory lap at the White House on Friday, touting his tax and regulatory policies as drivers of the best economic growth in nearly four years. The U.S. economy expanded at a 4.1 percent rate in the April-to-June quarter, the highest level since growth hit 5.2 percent in the third quarter of 2014, the Commerce Department reported. Read the full story here     Six women accuse CBS chief Les Moonves of sexual misconduct in The New Yorker By John Bowden CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves is accused of sexual misconduct by six women in a New Yorker exposé published Friday, the latest high-profile media figure at the center of allegations of misconduct as a result of the "Me Too" movement. Read the full story here     100 days: Dems have midterm edge, but it's not historic By Reid Wilson Democrats and Republicans alike are weighing whether the November midterm elections will turn into a blue wave that acts as a referendum on President Trump, or whether voters will make only modest adjustments to the levers of power in Washington because of a strong economy. Read the full story here     Trump huddles with top officials on election security By Morgan Chalfant President Trump on Friday met with members of the National Security Council about threats to U.S. elections, an issue that has attracted significant attention since Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Read the full story here     Schumer pushes George W. Bush to release Kavanaugh documents By Jordain Carney Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is appealing to former President George W. Bush in an escalating fight over documents tied to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Read the full story here     Trump thanks Kim for 'fulfilling a promise' with return of Korean War remains By Jacqueline Thomsen President Trump on Friday thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for “fulfilling a promise” by returning the remains of U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War. Read the full story here     If Cohen is telling us the truth, Trump may end up like Flynn By Jonathan Turley OPINION | Michael Cohen now knows that he is fighting for simple survival, and that makes him dangerous. The real “truth” is that Cohen is done — but that does not mean he is finished. Read the full story here     An obstruction case against Trump would be civil libertarian nightmare By Alan M. Dershowitz OPINION | Just imagine a prosecutor going through all of your tweets, all of your conversations, all of your actions and all of your emails in search of a plausible theory of criminality based on an accordion-like statute such as obstruction of justice.  Read the full story here     CNN: Trump tries a victory lap, but probes encroach By Kevin Liptak What was meant to be a celebratory tour of the Midwest on Thursday turned sour for President Donald Trump when he learned federal prosecutors were looking to question his company's longtime financial boss. Read the full story here     Bloomberg: A Booming Economy Hasn’t Given House GOP Candidates an Election Edge By Arit John , Laura Litvan , and Katia Dmitrieva The economy is robust, consumers are spending and Republicans are still increasingly at risk of losing their grip on Congress. Read the full story here     The Washington Post: Venting about press, Trump has repeatedly sought to ban reporters over questions By Philip Rucker, Josh Dawsey and Ashley Parker   President Trump has sought repeatedly to punish journalists for the way they ask him questions, directing White House staff to ban those reporters from covering official events or to revoke their press credentials, according to several current and former administration officials. Read the full story here     The Wall Street Journal: Inside the Trump Administration’s Chaotic Effort to Reunite Migrant Families By Nour Malas and Alicia A. Caldwell   For months, federal immigration officials along the 268-mile stretch of border that separates New Mexico and West Texas from Mexico had been testing a policy of separating migrant parents from their children. Read the full story here     The New York Times: As Affordable Housing Crisis Grows, HUD Sits on the Sidelines By Glenn Thrush The country is in the grips of an escalating housing affordability crisis. Millions of low-income Americans are paying 70 percent or more of their incomes for shelter, while rents continue to rise and construction of affordable rental apartments lags far behind the need. Read the full story here         Did a friend forward you this email? 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