Trump's attorney general announces return of federal capital punishment after 20 years – live

The Justice Department said in a statement that it would resume capital punishment after a nearly two-decade lapse on the policy.

The statement noted that Attorney General William Barr has asked the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions of five death-row inmates convicted of murder, with the first planned for December 9.

“Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the President,” Barr said. “The Justice Department upholds the rule of law—and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.”

Nancy Pelosi told a CNN reporter that she has “never” discouraged fellow House Democrats from supporting an impeachment inquiry against Trump and that they need to follow their own instincts on the matter.

But reports started emerging last night that the House speaker had rebuffed efforts to launch impeachment proceedings after special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony.

Some House Democrats also have a deadline of the upcoming recess on their minds, according to CNN. They fear that the impeachment issue could lose momentum if it is not raised before the August recess.

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is raising eyebrows with his hefty bill for private jet travel.

The millennial mayor has spent $300,000 on private jets this year, more than any other Democratic presidential hopeful, the AP reports.

Buttigieg’s campaign defended the charter flights as a necessary expense, given its headquarters in South Bend, Indiana. “We are careful with how we spend our money, and we fly commercial as often as possible,” a Buttigieg spokesperson said. “We only fly noncommercial when the schedule dictates.”

But his competitors seem to already be jumping on the potential gaffe. “No private planes for this campaign,” Beto O’Rourke said in a video posted to his campaign’s YouTube channel on Monday.

The pair of candidates may get a chance to spar over the travel issue next week. They are sharing the same stage on the first night of debates in Detroit.

Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW of North America have struck a deal with California to produce more fuel-efficient cars in the US.

The agreement could undercut the Trump administration’s efforts to relax gas mileage standards for American cars.

The Washington Post reports:

Mary D. Nichols, California’s top air pollution regulator, said in an interview Wednesday that she sees the agreement as a potential ‘olive branch’ to the Trump administration and hopes it joins the deal, which she said gives automakers flexibility in meeting emissions goals without the ‘massive backsliding’ contained in the White House’s current proposal. …

In a joint statement, the four companies said their decision to hash out a deal with California was driven by a need for predictability, as well as a desire to reduce compliance costs, keep vehicles affordable for customers and be good environmental stewards.

Trump is up and tweeting about the two-year budget deal that would raise the debt ceiling and end painful annual spending cuts.

The president’s unequivocal endorsement should relieve House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. When the deal between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House speaker Nancy Pelosi was announced, Trump said he was “pleased” with the agreement. But the lack of a full-throated endorsement worried some Republicans, particularly given a handful of conservatives’ complaints about the deal.

Trump’s endorsement should quiet those concerns before Congress votes on the bill — assuming the president doesn’t change his mind, which is always possible.

Good morning, live blog readers!

Washington is still processing everything we heard from special counsel Robert Mueller yesterday during his hearings before two House panels. But one (very important) person seems to have already reached a conclusion: Nancy Pelosi.

The House speaker rebuffed judiciary committee chairman Jerry Nadler’s entreaties to launch impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump during a closed-door meeting yesterday after Mueller’s appearance. Pelosi called Nadler’s idea to begin drafting articles of impeachment premature, standing by her insistence that the “slow, methodical approach” was the way to go.

Pelosi is sure to be asked about her position on impeachment during a media availability later today. Here are a few other things the blog is keeping its eye on:

• Jeffrey Epstein was found unconscious in his Manhattan jail cell with injuries to the neck, the New York Post reports. The wealthy financier was denied bail last week and is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in New York.
• Puerto Rico’s governor Ricardo Rosselló announced he would resign effective 2 August, our colleague Oliver Laughland reports. Rosselló has faced nearly two weeks of protests over misogynistic and homophobic comments he made in leaked text messages.
• US rapper A$AP Rocky has been charged with assault in Sweden. The artist has been in custody for more than three weeks following a fight in Stockholm late last month, and Trump has said he would reach out to Swedish authorities to discuss securing Rocky’s release.
• The House judiciary committee will hold a hearing at 10 am EDT on migrant family separations and the conditions of migrant detention centers.

The blog is covering all of that and more today. Stay tuned.