NOMINATIONS/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The White House on Monday [7-2-18] announced key members of the team that will work to ensure President Donald Trump’s next nominee to the Supreme Court is confirmed. White House counsel Don McGahn, who has been eyeing the White House exits amid tensions with Trump in recent months, will oversee the ‘selection and overall confirmation process’ for the President’s second Supreme Court nominee, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday, signaling he will remain White House counsel for at least several more months. Sanders also announced that her deputy Raj Shah will take leave from his role to “oversee communications, strategy and messaging coordination with Capitol Hill allies” surrounding the Supreme Court nomination. The move will put one of the administration’s most important jobs in Shah’s hands. But his step away from the day-to-day operations of the White House press shop could also signal the beginning of his exit from the White House, which Shah has been mulling in recent weeks. Trump’s successful confirmation of his second Supreme Court nominee in under two years could help seal his legacy among social conservatives who have been clamoring for Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement in the hopes of replacing a pivotal vote on the court with a solidly conservative replacement.”
–Jeremy Diamond, “White House builds Supreme Court confirmation team,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, July 2, 2018 12:23 pm