The Daily 202: President Obama's time to get things done is running very short on Capitol Hill

President Obama signs two bills to help Puerto Rico and to improve the FOIA process. Photographer: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Bloomberg

James Hohmann will return next week.

THE BIG IDEA by Paul Kane and Mike DeBonis: Time is running out on what’s left of President Obama’s agenda on Capitol Hill, leaving little opportunity for consideration of the last few items the president hoped would provide the final pieces of his legacy.

The Senate made an early exit Wednesday out of the Capitol so that lawmakers could get a nearly week-long break over the July 4th weekend. Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) shut down the House the middle of last week a day and a half earlier than anticipated after Democrats provoked chaos on the floor demanding a vote on gun control, giving his lawmakers an 11-day break.

Upon its return in the middle of next week, Congress only has about seven days in session before taking off the last two weeks of July for the national political conventions, followed by another five-week break as part of the traditional August “recess”.

“We are working less days than since I was in high school,” Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) complained Thursday at a press conference highlighting how the Senate might end up with the fewest days in session since 1956.

With such little time in Washington this month, congressional leaders plan to focus on a few must-pass items. Those include resolving an impasse over funding to battle the Zika virus and also providing a new authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration, which has a temporary lifeline until July 15.

Congress returns briefly in September, but lawmakers are expected to focus on government funding bills ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to keep the government open. Whichever agencies do not get their new budgets signed into law by then will become part of the dreaded “CR,” the continuing resolution that will keep the agency open but at current levels.

By Oct. 1, Congress will take another long break through Election Day. Besides the White House, the Senate and now the House majorities are in play as lawmakers await the results of this turbulent political season.

This truncated timeline is Obama's worst enemy as he tries to get the final pieces of his political and policy agenda in place before leaving the White House: an overhaul of criminal justice laws, passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the confirmation of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

To be sure, Obama’s legacy is already peppered with major accomplishments that liberals will cheer, and conservatives jeer, for decades to come -- including a first term dominated by the passage of the Affordable Care Act and a second term filled with foreign policy accomplishments such as the nuclear deal with Iran.

But the last big issues on which he aims to solidify his stature are mired in political sniping.

Early momentum for legislation that would have provided criminal sentencing reform has faded. Republicans split into two camps, one supporting the effort out of fiscal and religious duty to give prisoners a helping hand, the other taking a traditional law-and-order approach. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has decided what to do … by not deciding what to do with the issue. He’s allowing it to twist in the wind.

Garland’s chances were always slim after McConnell announced that the GOP Senate would not even consider giving him confirmation hearings. The majority leader got the almost unanimous backing of his 54-member caucus to say that the next president should fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s February death. Democrats have not succeeded in making Republicans feel the political heat on Garland and there is little time left before the elections to conduct a confirmation process.

On TPP, the trade deal with Pacific Rim nations, McConnell told The Washington Post last December that TPP would fail if it was brought up before the election and that instead the “next president” would still have the authority to “revisit” the issue in his or her term.

Trade is one of the most contentious issues this presidential campaign season, with both Donald Trump and Clinton opposing the deal. Bernie Sanders used a recent meeting with Obama to demand that the Democratic Party platform reject the TPP, a move that Obama rejected. But it is also the most likely to come up in a lame duck session, as the votes are likely there right now to win approval.

Some West Wing-ers believe, should Democrats win big in November, McConnell would push to confirm the relatively moderate Garland rather than let President Hillary Clinton confirm a younger, more liberal jurist. But that view has faded among Democrats and Republicans in the Capitol, where McConnell’s vow to leave the seat open is now taken by most there as the last word.

So, nothing much will get done in the remaining days Congress will be working this year. But that's something voters have come to expect anyway.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks in Washington. Former President Bill Clinton spoke with Lynch during an impromptu meeting in Phoenix, but Lynch says the discussion did not involve the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email use as secretary of state. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

-- Attorney General Loretta Lynch is planning to announce today that she will accept whatever recommendation prosecutors and the FBI director make about whether to bring charges related to Clinton’s personal email server, The New York Times reports. The Justice Department had been moving towards such an agreement “for months,” but it became more pressing after a private meeting between Lynch and former president Bill Clinton caused a political uproar."

THE LATEST ON THE ISTANBUL ATTACK:

-- Turkish officials have “strong evidence” that ISIS leadership was involved in planning the airport attack, CNN reports. “Officials believe the men -- identified by state media as being from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan -- entered Turkey about a month ago from the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria, bringing with them the suicide vests and bombs … The terrorists rented an apartment in the Fatih district of Istanbul, where one of the attackers left behind his passport, the Turkish government source said … Among the pictures was a screen grab from surveillance video at the airport that shows three men wearing thick jackets and carrying bags, the residents said. A female neighbor in the same building … said there was some smell of chemicals a couple of days ago from the apartment, prompting other neighbors to ask her whether there was a gas leak."

-- The newly-revealed identity of the Istanbul bombers has added a fresh lead for investigators digging into suspected Islamic State networks, Erin Cunningham reports. “The various homelands underscored possible connections between Islamic State cells and Turkey’s large communities of workers and others from the Caucasus region and Central Asia ... The details on the attackers’ origins are likely to expand the international scope of the investigation and offer a chance for wider assistance from Russia, which plans security talks Friday with Turkish officials. The broad topic outlined for the meetings looks to find ways to ease the conflict in Syria, but the airport attacks could shift greater focus to the Islamic State and its dependence on Turkey as a lifeline."

Vote Leave campaign leader, Boris Johnson, delivers a speech in London, Britain June 30, 2016. REUTERS/Toby Melville

BORIS BETRAYAL DOMINATES HEADLINES:

-- This morning, Michael Gove will make his case for leading Britain, less than 24 hours after forcing out opponent Boris Johnson in one of the most stunning political betrayals in the country’s history. Gove's surprise announcement continued to dominate headlines. “Michael made an odd assassin – but then Boris was a strange Caesar,” said The Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff. The battle has triggered “what will likely be an ugly and protracted war for the party’s soul," writes Griff Witte.

-- Griff reports on the drama, which prompted comparisons to Game of Thrones, House of Cards and Shakespeare: “It was a scene lifted from the scripts of Shakespeare — or perhaps a binge-watching session of ‘House of Cards.’ When Thursday morning broke, Boris Johnson, the transparently ambitious former mayor of London, was preparing to give the speech of his life — one that would vault him out of the political mayhem wrought by last week’s referendum on the E.U. and straight to the job he had long sought: British prime minister.

But the man who was to be Johnson’s campaign manager had a different idea: Michael Gove, the bookish justice secretary who had repeatedly denied any aspiration to higher office, was getting ready to stick a dagger into Johnson’s chances, and twist. By day’s end, Britain would be reckoning with one more betrayal in a political season full of them. This one stunned an already dazed nation, and left no doubt … that Britain is divided, directionless and leaderless as it prepares for a leap into the unknown of life outside the E.U.”

“Johnson had been seen as a possibly more pliant figure … Although he was the face of the campaign for ‘leave,’ most observers thought he took that stand less from a sense of ideological conviction than from a barely concealed well of political opportunism. In the days since the vote, he had begun to walk back the promises of Brexit, signaling he would fold easily on immigration — the ‘leave’ campaign’s signature issue. It may have been that malleability that prompted Gove, a Brexit true believer and the campaign’s intellectual architect, to undercut his ally. Or perhaps it was just Johnson’s legendary disorganization.”

-- “‘Et tu, Michael?’ So said Boris Johnson’s father Stanley, plaintively, shortly after it emerged that his son was destined after all never to wear the crown… This was perhaps the most vertiginous fall in modern political history," The Guardian writes."Thursday’s vote created a powerful feeling at Westminster that if you broke it, you own it; that having recklessly incited voters to shatter the political consensus, it was for Brexiters to sweep up the mess. What became painfully obvious very quickly was that Boris barely knew where to find the dustpan.”

-- Others attempted to steer focus back to the upcoming Brexit negotiations: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair urged calm, calling for "serious statesmanship" from leaders. Blair called on Conservative candidates to act with “genuine patriotic regard” to the country’s future as he accepted his own party was “effectively disabled.” “There is going to be a negotiation of extraordinary complexity where there are a thousand devils in every detail,” he wrote. “Those we used to call ‘our European partners’ are, unsurprisingly, divided and uncertain themselves.” (The Guardian)

-- In spite of the fracas, U.S. markets bounced back on Thursday. “We are clawing back from the losses after Brexit as investors realized that it was not the watershed event that they thought it was,” said James Abate, chief investment officer at Centre Asset Management LLC. “Moreover, a potential Brexit could be good news for countries as far-flung as China and Russia,” Ishaan Tharoor writes, “where the dysfunction of the West is always welcome coin for the realm, and even Germany, which could attract the sort of top-notch, well-heeled professionals who have so far called London home.”

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announces that the military will lift its ban on transgender troops. "This is the right thing to do for our people and for the force," Carter said in a statement. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

GET SMART FAST:​​

Trump speaks to supporters, with Christie behind him, at Trump Towers in April. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

GOP #VEEPSTAKES:

-- Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie make Trump’s VP shortlist. Robert Costa and Karen Tumulty scoop: “Trump’s campaign has begun formally vetting possible running mates, with ... Gingrich emerging as the leading candidate followed by ... Christie. Given Trump’s unpredictability, campaign associates caution that the presumptive Republican nominee could still shake up his shortlist. But with little more than two weeks before the start of the Republican National Convention, Gingrich and Christie have been asked to submit documents and are being cast as favorites for the post inside the campaign. Gingrich in particular is the beneficiary of a drumbeat of support from Trump confidants like Ben Carson.” Both have been asked to answer more than 100 questions and provide “reams” of personal and professional info as part of the vetting process.

“The timing of Trump’s announcement was for months thought to happen close to the convention. But campaign aides are now discussing moving it up, perhaps to later next week so the ticket could generate headlines and coverage — and win over party leaders — ahead of the party gathering in Cleveland.”

More than a half-dozen other candidates are also being considered – among them, Sens. Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Bob Corker of Tennessee. The extent to which they are being vetted is “unclear.” “A longer shot on Trump’s radar is Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a heavyweight on the right who could bolster his tepid support among some conservative activists … But Pence is immersed in his reelection race and Trump is said to want a more electric politician at his side rather than a low-profile lawmaker.” (One Pence aide told NBC that Pence "hasn't spoken to Mr. Trump since pre-Indiana primary, nor has he ever spoken to them about being VP — ever.")

--CHEMISTRY: “Trump’s desire for a governing partner is not the only factor that has been mentioned … Contenders’ rapport with the mogul and their ability to comfortably communicate and defend his non-traditional platform are also crucial … Less central have been the candidates’ home states or regional influence, given that Trump sees the campaign as a nationalized political war that is largely being fought on television.”

HOW IT'S PLAYING -- Christie’s new role in the Trump campaign is a “stark transformation from a boastfully independent blue-state politician determined to win over female, Hispanic and Asian voters, to the right-hand man of the most culturally polarizing presidential candidate in a generation,” NYT’s Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman report. “Politically, it represents a drastic gamble for Mr. Christie, a wager that he will be better off as a loyal and often-mocked footman for an unpopular nominee than as a sulking former opponent plotting his eventual comeback. … Some Republicans are disheartened by Mr. Christie’s integration into the Trump machinery, seeing it as a lost opportunity to build a more inclusive Republican Party this election year.” “I think he’s been diminished by the way the Trump organization has used him, and I think that’s really unfortunate,” said Republican strategist Joel Maiola.

Trump speaks at a town hall-style campaign event in Manchester. (AP/Robert F. Bukaty)

THE DAILY DONALD

--TRADE WAR...AMONG REPUBLICANS: “The unusual battle between Trump and much of the Republican establishment on international trade is rapidly escalating, as [Trump] … rails against business groups and members of his own party while defenders of sweeping free-trade pacts rebuke him.” From Sean Sullivan and Jenna Johnson: “The rift deepened on Thursday when Trump called out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce by name for the second straight day and pilloried the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, two landmark trade agreements broadly supported by Republicans. … He continued to tout his protectionist economic policies, which he has underscored since the day he launched his campaign more than a year ago and which stand at odds with many pro-free-trade statements in his past.”

“’I’m messing with bad deals that we could make good,’ Trump said in his speech at a shuttered manufacturing plant in Manchester, N.H. ‘I could make good deals. Why would somebody fight that?’

“For Trump, feuding with powerful business interests makes him an attractive candidate for many disaffected working-class voters … But the loud dispute also risks alienating many of the Republican Party’s wealthy benefactors at a time when he is struggling to kick his long-dormant fundraising operation into gear ... [The protectionist message] … could also push moderate Main Street Republicans to support Clinton, in much the same way that many Republicans in the foreign policy world have done.”

His comments also open the door for attacks on the businessman's hypocrisy: “Trump in the past has talked favorably about outsourcing jobs overseas, and much of his Trump-branded apparel line and other products are manufactured in low-cost Asian countries.”

-- Trump weighed in on abortion rights for the first time since the Supreme Court’s struck down clinic restrictions in Texas, ending his three-day silence on the matter. From Jose A. DelReal: “Speaking Thursday on the issue, Trump said the decision would not have come down the way it did if he had been president. ‘Now if we had Scalia ... or if Scalia was replaced by me, you wouldn't have had that. Okay? It would've been the opposite,’ Trump told radio host Mike Gallagher …” He also said the decision was the “first of many” such liberal victories to come if Clinton wins the presidency.

-- Trump raised eyebrows for several incendiary comments, including about a plane flying overhead at a New Hampshire rally, saying it “could be a Mexican plane … getting ready to attack.” He also drew criticism after responding affirmatively to a supporter who suggested the U.S. remove people who wear hijabs from TSA positions. "Why aren't we putting our military retirees on that border or in TSA. Get rid of all these hebee-jabis they wear at TSA,” asked a woman during Trump’s New Hampshire rally, seemingly mispronouncing the word “hijab.” “"You know, and we are looking at that,” Trump replied. “We're looking at a lot of things.” (Jose A. DelReal)

See Trump talk about the Mexican plane below:

-- “A new super PAC taking aim at Trump has formed, with the focus on mobilizing Democrats against him,” Anu Narayanswamy reports. “The group, named Keep America Great, has been set up as a grass-roots coalition spanning all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The PAC hope to hopes to target young voters on at least 100 college campuses and recruit students in swing states to create a movement, especially among Sen. Bernie Sanders's supporters who are not jumping in to support Hillary Clinton. ‘There is a fear that these progressives will stay home and we need to engage with these voters,’ Lerner said … The super PAC plans to also use grassroots efforts for its fundraising and has a number of state government representatives signed on with the organization.”

-- Top Cleveland chef Michael Symon said Trump is unwelcome at his restaurants during the Republican National Convention: “There’s not a chance I would let him into one of my restaurants,” Symon said in a radio interview, though two of his premier restaurants are in close proximity to the Quicken Loans Arena. “I'm not going to lie, he creeps me out a little bit.” (The Plain Dealer)

Hillary Clinton speaks at a Digital Content Creators Town Hall at the Neuehouse Hollywood in Los Angeles, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

MORE ON THE DEMOCRATIC RACE:

-- Clinton’s campaign is expanding its television ad campaign into Nebraska, making a seemingly peculiar buy in the heavily-Republican state. But the former Secretary of State is actually mimicking a successful 2008 strategy from Obama, John Wagner notes, targeting the city of Omaha to pick up an electoral vote.

-- Sanders pushed back on the idea that he was ready to formally endorse Clinton, refuting a comment from Joe Biden that suggested he was ready to do so. "I talked to Joe, I think, was three weeks ago," Sanders said on MSNBC’s “Up With Chris Hayes,” referring to an earlier meeting between the two men. "Look, on that issue, we are trying to work with Secretary Clinton's campaign on areas that we can agree on." (David Weigel)

-- “When President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton take the stage for their symbolic joint rally on July 5, it will send a subtle but unmistakable signal about the evolving outline of the swing state map,” Politico’s Gabriel Debenedetti reports. “By announcing Wednesday that the rescheduled event will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, rather than Green Bay, Wisconsin — the original plan … the presumptive [Clinton’s] campaign telegraphed that it sees newfound promise in a battleground state that narrowly rejected Obama in 2012. It’s a reminder of the fluidity within the swing state universe, but also a sign of Trump’s decline in national and swing state polling … As a result, Democrats on Wednesday viewed the doubling down on North Carolina as evidence of an attempt to seize the political moment, even as they acknowledged a swing state fluctuation that worked against them …” “You can stretch him really thin,” former Obama strategist Dan Kanninen said of Trump. “We did this to Romney and we did it to [John] McCain. You can stretch the map on your terms.”

Mohimanul Alam Bhuiya, a long time Brooklyn resident spoke with NBC News earlier this year. (NBC Nightly News)

WAPO HIGHLIGHTS:

-- “‘I am fed up with this evil’: How an American went from Ivy League student to disillusioned ISIS fighter,” by Adam Goldman: “In late October 2014, the FBI received an unusual email from a young man named Mohimanul Alam Bhuiya. Bhuiya, then 25, had joined the Islamic State. Now the longtime Brooklyn resident was desperate and looking for a way out. He wanted the FBI to rescue him. ‘I am an American who’s trying to get back home from Syria,’ he wrote. Bhuiya was not your average wayward Islamic State recruit. Unlike many of the people the Justice Department has charged in connection with the terrorist group, Bhuiya appeared to have a bright future. He attended Columbia University before he fell under the sway of the Islamic State. [Upon traveling to Syria, however,] Bhuiya said he quickly became disillusioned and described the Islamic State as ‘dystopia.’ ‘You could see madness in their eyes,’ he recalled. The FBI was still verifying his identity when Bhuiya managed to escape about a week later. He returned to the United States, where he was promptly arrested and charged.

-- “Did Donald Trump violate IRS rules, by using a charity's money to buy himself a signed football helmet?” by David A. Fahrenthold: “Four years ago, at a charity fundraiser in Palm Beach, Trump got into a bidding war at the evening's live auction. The items up for sale: A Denver Broncos helmet, autographed by then-star quarterback Tim Tebow, and a Tebow jersey. Trump won, eventually, with a bid of $12,000. But Trump didn't actually pay with his own money. Instead, the Susan G. Komen organization -- the breast-cancer nonprofit that hosted the party -- got a $12,000 payment from another nonprofit, the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Trump himself sent no money. He paid the bill with money from a charity he founded in 1987, but which is largely stocked with other people's money.”

SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

Here's a snap from President Obama's visit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the day before Canada Day (July 1):

Trudeau thanked Obama for coming:

Meanwhile, FLOTUS was in Liberia, Morocco and Spain to tout her #LetGirlsLearn initiative:

ICYMI: Here's POTUS making a friendship bracelet for VPOTUS to make the point that this is harder than registering to vote this year:

Trump trolled Hillary on new revelations regarding her private email server in which her aide, Huma Abedin, said that Clinton didn't want "anybody" to be able to access her private emails:

But he was surprisingly restrained when asked about Loretta Lynch's meeting with Bill Clinton in a radio interview with Howie Carr:

But Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) didn't mince words on the subject:

Trump also told Carr that Chris Christie is "not at the top" of his VP list, despite news reports to the contrary:

This former Mexican ambassador to the U.S. pointed out that Mexico and Canada are our country's biggest trading partners:

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) celebrates gay pride month:

And veteran and Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) lauded the Pentagon's decision to repeal its ban on openly transgender service members:

So did Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.):

Rep. Katherine Clarke (D-Mass.), one of the organizer's of last week's House sit-in on gun control, posted a picture on the National Day of Action to stop gun violence:

GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE:

-- Bloomberg, “Remember When Trump Promised to Save Ed McMahon’s House?,” by Zachary Mider: “Trump boasts that he elevated real-estate dealmaking to an art form. But in 2008, there was one transaction that he just couldn't seem to close. That was when Trump swooped in, promising to rescue Ed McMahon, the longtime announcer for NBC's The Tonight Show who was in failing health and facing foreclosure on his six-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills, California. Like some of Trump's other charitable pledges, this one generated an avalanche of publicity, only to mire in confusion and delay once the TV cameras moved on. Trump negotiated for months over the property without striking a deal, with McMahon and his family in limbo. Then another deep-pocketed investor stepped in and resolved McMahon's predicament with no fanfare.” After McMahon’s death in June, Trump sought to put the blame on the lender. “We contacted the institution that had the mortgage on this house and it was unfortunately wrapped with many other mortgages … he said. “I really wanted to help him out.” (The buyer said he experienced no such problem.)

-- The Boston Globe, “Trump’s conspiracy theories find an audience,” by Michael Levenson: “Sometimes, Trump sounds as though he is just passing on information, as he did after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died. ‘They say they found a pillow on his face,’ Trump [said] … ‘which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow.’ More famously, he helped drive the so-called birther movement … Trump’s affinity for conspiracy theories might seem the stuff of a few kooks and cranks ... But far from being a marginal phenomenon, conspiracy theories have always been part of the American political landscape and are believed by more than 55 percent of the public … The surprising breadth of conspiracy beliefs shows that while Trump’s rhetoric may repel a large segment of voters, it is also tapping a deep vein of thought among Americans who distrust elites and suspect that larger, darker forces are orchestrating domestic and world events.”

--The Wall Street Journal, “Donald Trump faces rocky terrain in Colorado,” by Beth Reinhard: “The Republican candidate hasn’t campaigned here, aside from touching down for a debate last year in Boulder. He hired a state director only this week … and didn’t win any delegates at the state’s Republican convention. What’s more, Colorado hosts one of the nation’s largest Hispanic populations … ’I would not call Colorado unfriendly territory. I’d call it unknown territory,’ said Republican consultant Patrick Davis … [The terrain] is a more natural fit for 2012 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who is slated to introduce Mr. Trump on Friday at the Western Conservative Summit, billed as the largest gathering of conservative activists outside of Washington, D.C.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

-- It’s going to be a “pretty darn warm” Friday, per today’s Capital Weather Gang forecast. “Pretty darn warm mid-80s, maybe even near 90 in a few spots. Also darn muggy with dew points into the upper 60s to around 70. Southerly 5-10 mph breezes keep us supplied on the steaminess. Plentiful morning clouds could spit out a few showers. Skies should bright midday into the afternoon, thus percolating the summertime atmosphere into another possible round of showers and storms (40% chance) by evening.” Check out the holiday weekend forecast (and a “beachcast” for those of us headed for sandier shores) here.

-- The Nationals beat the Cincinnati Reds 13-4.

-- Trump is suing the City of D.C. over a tax bill on his forthcoming Trump Hotel, saying the District has demanded an “unreasonable” amount for the “shell of a non-operational building undergoing a massive conversion to a hotel.” (Justin Jouvenal and Rachel Weiner)

-- The new fiscal year begins today, officially raising D.C. minimum wage to $11.50 an hour and bringing forth a slew of new taxes, programs and penalties in the area. Among the laws taking effect:

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

Get the down low on Michael Gove, "Britain's real-life Frank Underwood:"

See Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) meet the prisoner who inspired his support for sentencing reform:

Watch Lee's friend, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), question DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson about terrorism:

Watch Canadian lawmakers chant "Four more years!" to Obama:

Watch a video about how the subject of the "Serial" Podcast was granted a new trial:

Watch endangered Cuban crocs hatch at the National Zoo: