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On the roster: Dems disappoint with Mueller show - Biden blitzes to shore up support with black voters - Audible: Anybody got Venmo? - Smokey Bear?



DEMS DISAPPOINT WITH MUELLER SHOW

Fox News: “While Democrats were hoping for a memorable hearing performance that might offer clear-cut testimony on crimes by the president, the result of hours of grueling testimony before two committees -- like the report itself -- was more ambiguous. [Special Counsel Robert Mueller] at times appeared flustered, often asking lawmakers to repeat questions, while referring back to the report or stating topics were outside his purview whenever questioners sought to drag him outside the bounds of his written findings. Mueller notably declared Wednesday that, despite Trump's assertions to the contrary, the report does not exonerate the president of obstruction of justice. … Much of the hearing provided a forum for Republicans to fume at Mueller over the way he conducted the other part of his probe, on the obstruction component.”



Voters already tuned out - Fox News: “Few voters expect former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony will make a difference to their views of President Trump. The latest Fox News Poll, conducted Sunday through Tuesday, finds nearly half, 49 percent, say there is ‘no chance at all’ that something Mueller says on Capitol Hill Wednesday could change how they feel about Trump. Another 23 percent say there is ‘only a small chance’ their views could change. About one in five seem moveable, as they say there is a ‘strong’ (8 percent) or ‘some’ chance (11 percent) the testimony will change their mind. Republicans (52 percent) and Democrats (49 percent) are more likely than independents (38 percent) to say there is zero chance something in Mueller’s remarks will change their feelings about Trump. Support for impeaching Trump and removing him from office has stayed between 39-43 percent since June 2018. Currently, 42 percent of voters support that approach. Another 5 percent want him impeached but not removed, while 45 percent oppose impeachment altogether.”



McGahn could be up next - NBC News: “The man whose testimony could ultimately prove crucial in a potential impeachment battle isn’t appearing before a congressional committee this week. The biggest question facing Democrats is whether he will ever testify at all. …Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler is readying his next step: seeking to compel testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn, the person considered to be the potential linchpin of an obstruction of justice case against President Donald Trump. Few names appear more often — more than 500 times in the redacted version of Mueller’s final report — than McGahn’s. The longtime Republican insider who served as both Trump’s campaign counsel and first White House counsel sat for more than 30 hours of voluntary testimony before Mueller’s team.”



House readies other approaches - Politico: “House Democrats are preparing to pass a measure intended to strengthen their court case to access President Donald Trump's personal financial information, a direct response to questions raised by a Trump-appointed judge during an Appeals Court hearing earlier this month. The proposal, filed Tuesday afternoon by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), would formally declare that any committee subpoenas related to President Donald Trump, his family, current and former White House officials and the Trump Organization are presumed to have the blessing of the full House of Representatives. The Rules Committee is expected to advance the measure Tuesday night, and the House is expected to pass it on Wednesday. … The measure, recommended by House counsel Doug Letter, responds to a line of questioning by Neomi Rao, a judge on the federal appeals court in Washington, who is one of three judges weighing a Democratic subpoena to access records from Trump's personal accounting firm.”



Trump sues House to protect tax returns - WSJ: “President Trump sued the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and New York state officials on Tuesday, seeking to protect his state tax returns from being turned over to the congressional tax-writing committee. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to block the application of a new New York state law that enables the Ways and Means Committee chairman to obtain Mr. Trump’s state tax records by asking the state tax commissioner for them.”



THE RULEBOOK: COLLEGE KNOWLEDGE

“Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States.” – Alexander Hamilton,Federalist No. 68



TIME OUT: ‘AN ELEGY FOR A BYGONE ERA’

Atlantic: “…Once Upon a Time in Hollywood takes place in 1969, as the last waves of the swinging ‘60s lap over mainstream culture… The pop-cultural era that [Quentin] Tarantino is looking at—a moment when old-fashioned genre heroism was on its way out, and the freewheeling New Hollywood movement was about to arrive—is a very specific one. … But Tarantino might as well be telling a story about the early-‘90s movie industry that he first broke into as an exciting new filmmaker … Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is most crucially a tale of fame won and then surrendered. It is about how the American film industry has always had the terrible power to create icons and then forget about them. As a director, Tarantino tends to refract his stories through his various pop-cultural obsessions … but this film is set in the actual Hollywood Hills and revolves around the actual moviemaking process. The result is a surprisingly funny and extremely melancholy hangout film, an elegy for a bygone era that reflects on how all art eventually loses its edge.”



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SCOREBOARD

Trump job performance

Average approval: 45 percent

Average disapproval: 51.4 percent

Net Score: -6.4 points

Change from one week ago: up 0.6 points

[Average includes: NPR/PBS/Marist: 44% approve - 53% disapprove; Gallup: 44% approve - 51% disapprove; NBC News/WSJ: 45% approve - 52% disapprove; ABC News/WaPo: 47% approve - 50% disapprove; CNN: 45% approve - 51% disapprove.]



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BIDEN BLITZES TO SHORE UP SUPPORT WITH BLACK VOTERS

Politico: “He dished out soul food at Dulan’s on Crenshaw, an iconic Los Angeles restaurant, talked youth empowerment in New Orleans and basked in the endorsement of a senior black congresswoman from Texas. In advance of speeches this week to the NAACP in Detroit and the Urban League in Indianapolis, he released a criminal justice plan that addresses concerns many African Americans have about his past record, including his role on the 1994 crime bill. The campaign then touted the plan in a web ad featuring an African American adviser. Amid signs that his sizable advantage among black voters is slipping, Joe Biden has embarked on a coast-to-coast blitz to shore up his position. Biden’s campaign says it always made black-voter outreach a hallmark and the recent focus has nothing to do with Kamala Harris’ recent gains among black voters or last month’s debate, when the African American senator from California put Biden on defense over race.”



Harris pushes fundraising in South Carolina - The Hill: “White House hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) sent out a fundraising email for the South Carolina Democratic Party on Tuesday as she tries to gin up establishment support in a crucial primary state. Harris, who spoke before the party last month, wrote in the email that while 2020’s main attraction will be the presidential race, local elections still hold weight, citing Republican-led efforts in the Palmetto State such as restricting abortion and maintaining loose gun control laws. … The email and the campaign’s efforts to amplify it underline the centrality of South Carolina to Harris’s path to the Democratic presidential nomination. Harris, one of three African American candidates in the primary race, is hoping to post a strong showing in an early state where black voters make up roughly 60 percent of the primary electorate.”



Meet Harris’ campaign chairwoman, her sister - WaPo: “The Harris sisters don’t look all that much alike. Kamala resembles their father: taller and angular; where Maya has the softer features of their late mother who clocked in at 5-foot-1. But the sisters share a contagious, body-shaking laugh so similar that strangers often guess they’re related. Only now, Maya kept a straight face. Getting exercise and sleep aren’t a treat, she said, but a necessity. Maya has always got Kamala’s best interest at heart, whether it’s ignoring the former prosecutor’s joke comparing a campaign to incarceration, making sure she’s fully up to speed on policy, or getting enough rest — and not just because she’s Kamala’s little sister, but because she’s Kamala’s campaign chairwoman. It’s a job she’s uniquely qualified for: She was a senior adviser for Hillary Clinton in 2016, knows her sister better than anyone else … and is something of a yin to Kamala’s yang.”



‘Glass ceiling’ is a broken metaphor - NYT: “Kamala Harris is prepared to ‘break things.’ Elizabeth Warren said she would ‘persist.’ Amy Klobuchar has challenged voters to discount women ‘at your own peril,’ while Tulsi Gabbard insisted that a presidential race with six women is not an anomaly but ‘what an election should look like.’ The women running for president are promising many things as they make their pitches to voters. They are being asked repeatedly how being women may affect their chances. But so far, none of them are emphasizing the ‘glass ceiling.’ In fact, the phrase ‘glass ceiling’ was trending recently not because of anything the candidates had said, but because of Nike. …The symbol remains intact. In politics, the phrase became associated with the aspirations of Hillary Clinton, who spoke at key moments of success and defeat about cracking the glass ceiling. But in this barrier-breaking field of female candidates, it is noticeably absent.”



Sanders’ campaign hit with federal labor complaint - Bloomberg Law: “Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign has been hit with an unfair labor practice complaint alleging illegal employee interrogation and retaliation against staffers. The July 19 complaint to the National Labor Relations Board, filed by an unnamed individual in Indiana, was posted to the agency’s website late July 22. It comes as tense negotiations between the Sanders campaign and the union representing staffers recently boiled over publicly. The Washington Post reported July 23 that unionized organizers for the campaign had won a pay raise and reached a compromise to reduce the hours of some workers. A copy of the charge has not yet been made public, but the agency’s July 22 docket lists five potential violations of the National Labor Relations Act. The charge also alleges that the campaign unlawfully discharged an employee, modified a labor contract, and engaged in illegal discipline.”



Sherrod Brown has regrets - NYT: “As 20 Democrats debated on national television, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and his wife, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz, texted each other a running critique of the candidates. This was not just another politically engaged couple talking about the 2020 race. ‘You can’t help but think, ‘I could have done that better,’’ Mr. Brown recalled in an interview. … He confessed that he was ‘wistful from time to time’ about his choice not to enter the presidential primary, which he had looked at while fresh off his re-election in 2018 in a state President Trump carried. Many people besides senators continue to say they wish he were a candidate as well. It suggests that despite the enormous field of 24 hopefuls, some Democrats still seek a Goldilocks candidate, someone perhaps like Mr. Brown, with a solid progressive record and a proven appeal to the Midwest working class.”



PLAY-BY-PLAY

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in latest interview: ‘I am very much alive’ - NPR



Mark Esper, former Raytheon Co. executive, sworn in as defense secretary - WSJ



DOJ opens sweeping antitrust review of big tech giants - Fox News



AUDIBLE: ANYBODY GOT VENMO?

“And money — there’s nothing quite as eloquent as a bank statement to show strength.” – Speaker Nancy Pelosi said while speaking at the 110th annual NAACP convention at Cobo Center in Detroit.



FROM THE BLEACHERS

“Some time ago I suggested that Mr. Stirewalt provide some context relative to the Federalist Papers quote he uses. Fortunately, he did not acquiesce to the request, which has caused me to ‘Google’ or otherwise research the material. Hasn't quite caused me to read the complete set of documents, (similarly, my Priest's use of oblique scripture hasn't caused me to read the entire Apocrypha yet), but for this old man it has been a useful educational experience.” – Joe Ferguson, Perrysburg, Ohio



[Ed. note: I wish I could say that it was by intent rather than indolence, Mr. Ferguson! But by whatever means, I’m glad you’ve gotten to spend some more time with America’s most important work of political philosophy.]



“I am at a loss to describe my experience of Crechale’s except to say that I earned the respect of my wife and son by surprising them with such an exceptional dining experience. The ribeye wilting with juices served with buttery flaking hot cross buns was pure ambrosia. Thank you for sharing John Edge’s article and for espousing an Americana that unites rather than divides in the Halftime Report [on May 23]. During our trip we also experienced Delta tamales which are markedly different than our usual Mexican inspired California fare. If you happen to be in Birmingham I recommend a visit to Delta Blues Hot Tamales.” – Dan Burch, Turlock Calif.



[Ed. note: While we are always pleased to help American’s unravel complex political questions, our highest success comes in helping our readers find great American things to eat, see and do! Count me as hugely jealous of both your trip to Crechale’s and the wonders of the Delta hot tamale. If you want to experiment at home, Southern Foodways has a great tamale recipe to try. Thanks for letting us know.]



Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.



SMOKEY BEAR?

KDVR: “A bear-proof dumpster in Lyons is living up to its promise. The Bud Depot cannabis shop keeps its trash in locked dumpster behind a locked gate outside its back door. ‘Oh, [it’s] just boxes. It’s none of the fun stuff like you would imagine,’ Nikko Garza, manager at The Bud Depot, told FOX31. Still, something inside the dumpster attracted a bear the staff sees so regularly, they nicknamed it ‘Cheeseburger.’ They say this time, he broke through the wooden fence in an attempt to get into the dumpster. … When the bear couldn’t get into the dumpster, it decided to steal the dumpster instead. A security camera caught the would-be thief in the act. The bear rolls the dumpster outside the fence and several yards through the parking lot. ‘He’s all into the Rocky Mountain high and I don’t blame him. He knows the good stuff when he sees it, or smells it,’ Garza said.”



AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…

“Even though terrorists are entitled to no humane treatment, we give it to them because it is in our nature as a moral and humane people. And when on rare occasions we fail to do that, as has occurred in several of the fronts of the war on terror, we are duly disgraced.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Weekly Standard on Dec. 5, 2005.



Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.