Attorney General Jeff Sessions joins in a “lock her up” chant with high school students. Utahns celebrate Pioneer Day and President Donald Trump praises pioneers. Sen. Orrin Hatch’s office goes out of its way to prove he’s alive after Wikipedia vandalism.
Happy Wednesday. Two years after the presidential campaign, chants of “Lock her up” — referring to Hillary Clinton — are apparently still a thing, and the nation’s top law enforcement officer joined in the call yesterday. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday spoke to a conservative high school crowd where some folks broke out in the chant that was a hallmark of Donald Trump’s rallies in 2016. Sessions repeated the phrase. The irony, of course, is that Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is actually in jail and awaiting trial. [Politico]
Topping the news: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whose review of public lands led to the reduction of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, spoke at the Days of ’47 rodeo and praised Utah for understanding “that freedom of religion is a cornerstone of American exceptionalism.” [Trib] [Fox13] [KSL] [ABC4]
-> President Donald Trump wished his best to Utahns celebrating Pioneer Day and praised pioneers who came to the state “in search of religious freedom and a better way of life.” [Trib] [Fox13] [KUTV] [ABC4]
-> Sen. Orrin Hatch’s Wikipedia entry was edited to say he died in September 2017, and the Republican senator’s office took to Twitter to say he is alive and well. [Trib]
Tweets of the day: From @JohnFugelsang: “Ivanka Trump is immediately shutting down her fashion line so a moment of silence please for all those Chinese jobs lost.”
-> From @bazecraze: “It’s fun to listen to that Trump tape and imagine Cohen following him around, aiming a huge lapel flower at him.”
In other news: The U.S. House passed Rep. Chris Stewart’s bill to create a national three-digit suicide prevention hotline on a 379-1 vote, an extension of a companion bill by Sen. Orrin Hatch that the Senate passed previously. [Trib]
-> An unidentified victim was struck and killed by a TRAX train Monday night, marking the third person killed by a Utah Transit Authority train in 10 days. [Trib]
-> Two Salt Lake City residents and three firemen were hospitalized after a fire spread near Ensign Peak, but the cause of the fire is still unknown. [Trib] [ABC4]
-> Under President Russell M. Nelson, the LDS Church, a U.S.-born religion, is embracing multiculturalism with the goal of turning Mormonism into a global faith. [Trib]
-> Robert Gehrke says Brigham Young University’s police department should comply with state open records laws for the sake of transparency and public accountability. [Trib]
Nationally: President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, released a secret recording in which the president appears to have knowledge of secret payments made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. [NYTimes] [CNN] [WaPost] [Politico]
-> The Trump administration announced it will be giving up to $12 billion in emergency aid to help farmers caught in the president’s escalating trade war. [WaPost] [NYTimes]
-> Mick Mulvaney, a former South Carolina congressman who now oversees the Office of Management and Budget and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, is being seen as a leading candidate to succeed John Kelly as the president’s chief of staff. [Politico]
-> The Trump-backed GOP candidate for governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, captured the Republican nomination and will face Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams in November’s general election. [NYTimes]
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— Thomas Burr and Connor Richards
Follow @sltribpolitics
