Kellyanne Conway, President Donald Trump’s loyal adviser, is the woman who carried him over the finish line to the White House. But her husband, George, is one of the president’s most notable conservative critics and wishes he’d never introduced his wife to Trump in the first place. At the Conways', it’s a house divided, and their feud is playing out for more than just the neighbors to see as George has increasingly taken to Twitter to call out what he sees as Trump’s “absurd” and “unconstitutional” behaviors. [WaPost]
Happy Thursday.
Topping the news: Opponents of Proposition 2, a medical marijuana ballot initiative, filed a second lawsuit to block the item from November’s ballot, arguing that legalization would violate Mormons' religious beliefs. [Trib]
-> If Proposition 2 passes this fall, the nonpsychoactive cannabis component CBD could be moved from stores to dispensaries. [Trib]
-> The Trump administration released a draft of plans that, if implemented, would make most of the land removed from Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument available to coal mining and oil or gas drilling. [Trib]
-> Lawyers for the Count My Vote initiative, which seeks to solidify a new state election law, asked the Utah Supreme Court to place the measure on the ballot, arguing that its signature gathering process was unfairly torpedoed. [Trib] [Fox13] [DNews]
Tweets of the day: From @sbg1: “If this is how Trump reacts to the Omarosa book, imagine what’s going to happen when Bob Woodward’s book comes out...”
-> From @ktumulty: “Mark Burnett called me to tell me there is no video of me eating that last piece of chocolate cake that was in the refrigerator.”
-> From @PhilipRucker: “As Trump retaliates against political critics by revoking or reviewing their security clearances, it is worth remembering that the president himself revealed highly classified information to Russians in an Oval Office meeting.”
Happy Birthday: To former state Sen. Brent Goodfellow and Mike Jerman, who served as legislative director to former Rep. Jason Chaffetz.
Trib Talk: Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, and Tribune reporter Benjamin Wood discuss the one-year anniversary of Operation Rio Grande, its successes and ongoing challenges. [Trib]
In other news: Utah Catholic Bishop Oscar A. Solis expressed “personal shame” for a report that revealed priests in Pennsylvania had committed massive sex abuse and vowed that the Diocese of Salt Lake City would review its own policies to “prevent these sins from happening again.” [Trib] [KSL]
-> The federal government may require Utah to reprint and reissue all drivers licenses to include a gold star on the front that would easily prove citizenship to security officers — and it could cost the state up to $5 million. [Trib] [DNews]
-> The Judiciary Interim Committee voted to take up the issue of clarifying the process for legally changing genders as a potential committee bill, which would give the item a better chance of succeeding in the next legislative session. [Trib] [DNews]
-> The state’s Transportation Interim Committee took a first chance to discuss dockless e-scooters and how to regulate them, noting that some state laws complicate their use on roads with higher speed limits or more lanes of traffic. [Trib]
-> Utah Democratic Senate nominee Jenny Wilson called the planned Orrin Hatch Center, a $40 million library and think tank to be located in Salt Lake City, an “offensive” example of how out of touch Hatch is. [Trib]
-> Salt Lake City officials began a series of meetings with the public to find out what kind of regulations residents think should be imposed on businesses looking to operate within the boundaries of a controversial inland trading hub being built in the city’s northwest corner. [Trib]
-> As his body was returned home, hundreds of Utahns met in South Jordan to pay respect to Matthew Burchett, a Draper firefighter who was killed fighting the Medocino Complex fire in California. [Trib]
Nationally: Trump has revoked the security clearance of former C.I.A. director John O. Brennan and threatened to do the same to other former national security officials who have antagonized him. [NYTimes] [WaPost] [CBS] [BusinessInsider]
-> In the closing arguments of Paul Manafort’s fraud trial, prosecuting attorneys described evidence against Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, as “overwhelming.” [NYTimes] [Politico]
-> Even as Trump engages in a trade war abroad with U.S. rivals and allies, he met with Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo on Wednesday and discussed making a deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement that could be drafted by the end of August. [Politico] [Rueters]
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-- Taylor Stevens and Connor Richards
