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Political Cornflakes: Massachusetts Democrat dupes Fox News, slams Trump

Massachusetts Democrat dupes Fox News, slams Trump. A look at Herbert’s chief of staff, Justin Harding. More Utahns voted in the primary but it was still below 30 percent.

Happy Tuesday. And happy Pioneer Day. A Massachusetts congressional candidate pulled a bait-and-switch on a Fox News talk show yesterday, using the president’s preferred morning show as a platform to blast his administration’s policy of immigrant family separations. Fox & Friends had thought it booked a former Arizona congresswoman for the show but instead a Massachusetts Democrat running for Congress appeared on screen. [Politico]

Topping the news: While most Utahns have never heard of Justin Harding, Gov. Gary Herbert’s chief of staff, the governor calls him the “supercop directing traffic” in state politics. [Trib]

-> There was an increase this year in the number of Utahns who voted in the primary election, from 24 percent in 2016 to 29 percent this year, according to a final canvass of results from Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox’s office. [Trib]

-> The president of the Payson-based company Liberty Safe, Steve Allred, was invited to the White House to display his company’s premiere safe. [Trib]

Tweets of the day: From @TheAPJournalist: “Whelp, looks like Georgia state rep. Jason Spencer is in a whole lot of trouble.”

-> From @TeaPainUSA: “12 Cohen recordings? We should create an advent calendar where we play a new tape each day and on the last day, Michael Cohen announces his plea deal.”

In other news: Steve Powell, the father of Josh Powell, a man that murdered his two sons and killed himself while being investigated for his wife’s disappearance, died Monday in Washington state. He was the only person to go to prison during the investigation of Susan Powell’s disappearance. [Trib]

-> Community members held a vigil at Liberty Park to show support for a 16-month-old girl family members believe was sexually assaulted by a man who later committed suicide. [Trib]

-> JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman, a Utah native, is launching a fifth airline that will be based in the United States. [Trib]

-> Jordan School District announced it plans to put a full-time psychologist in each of the 36 elementary schools in the district beginning this fall, a move aimed at combatting student depression and unhappiness. [Trib]

-> Pat Bagley gives his take on people who camp out overnight for the Days of ’47 Parade. [Trib]

-> Robert Gehrke imagines what Brigham Young would have tweeted if he had a Twitter account back in 1847. [Trib]

Nationally: President Donald Trump threatened to revoke the security clearances of former national security and intelligence officials who criticized him or raised alarm about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. [WaPost] [NYTimes] [CBS]

-> Satellite images shows that North Korea has begun dismantling a missile-engine test, keeping with the promise Trump said Kim Jong-un made to him during their summit meeting in Singapore. [NYTimes] [CNN]

-> While White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she has no plans to leave the administration, some Trump advisers are beginning to think about who her replacement could be. [Politico]

-> Documents released and then retracted by the Interior Department show that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his aides ignored the benefits of national monuments when reviewing whether to shrink Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, because they were “revealing [the review’s] strategy." [WaPost]

Got a tip? A birthday, wedding or anniversary to announce? Send us a note to cornflakes@sltrib.com.

-- Thomas Burr and Connor Richards

Twitter.com/thomaswburr and Twitter.com/crichards1995