Good morning. It's Tuesday Digest time. 1. War of words between Trump, Omar continues. Following a day of dueling press conferences and withering accusations of racism on one side and unpatriotic hatred on the other, the Trump-Omar standoff continues. After being personally attacked by the president, Rep. Ilhan Omar responded on Monday with some accusations of her own. President Trump took questions Monday about his tweets on Sunday. In them he declared that four Democratic representatives, all women of color, should go back where they came from. This despite the fact that all are U.S. citizens, and only Omar was born outside the United States. The president took the opportunity to go on the attack, singling out the Minnesota representative for special attention. "I look at Omar. I don't know. I never met her," he said. The president suggested Omar supports al-Qaeda. He then moved on to a comment in an edited video where Omar appeared to be dismissive of 9/11. When asked by a reporter to respond to the president's accusations Omar said as a Muslim she was tired of having her loyalty questioned. "It's beyond time to ask Muslims to condemn terrorists," she said. "We are no longer going to allow the dignification of such a ridiculous, ridiculous statement." (MPR News) 2. Pledge is back in St. Louis Park. The St. Louis Park City Council voted unanimously Monday night to reinstate its practice of saying the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of meetings, after drawing the ire of right-wing media outlets and some conservatives including President Trump. At a raucous meeting Monday, council members voted to set aside their agenda and address the pledge controversy right away. City workers had received threatening and harassing messages and phone calls from people across the country who were angered by the council's vote last month to stop saying the pledge at meetings.
Tired of the attention and concerned for city staff, the council reversed itself. "This circus needs to end," councilmember Margaret Rog said. (MPR News)
3. DHS commissioner resigns amid concerns about agency direction. Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Tony Lourey has resigned, just days after the announced departures of two of his key deputies. DFL Gov. Tim Walz announced Lourey's exit Monday as he named former state finance chief Pam Wheelock as the department's acting commissioner. There was no explanation offered for Lourey's exit or for his deputies stepping down. By late Monday morning, however, Walz confirmed to reporters that the two deputy commissioners had met with the governor's chief of staff and expressed concerns about the direction of the department, and resigned over those concerns. The department has been under fire over several issues in recent months, including questions of fraud in the state's Child Care Assistance Program and the aftermath of a phishing scheme that potentially exposed the personal information of several thousand people. (MPR News) 4. Omar posts strong fundraising tally last quarter. Rep. Ilhan Omar, in the vortex of President Donald Trump's Twitter attack on four Democratic congresswomen of color, raised more than $600,000 for her re-election bid between April and June, ending the second quarter with nearly $1 million in her campaign account. Omar, a Democrat from Minneapolis, reported the fundraising haul in a campaign finance filing with the Federal Election Commission Monday morning.
Omar's fundraising represents a bounty of cash for a freshman running in a safe Democratic seat, but it also reflects her high media profile as she continues to clash with Trump and sometimes even leaders of her own party. (Star Tribune) 5. Klobuchar sees drop in fundraising. Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey both brought in enough money to forge ahead. But Klobuchar, who raised nearly $4 million, and Booker, who raised just a little more, performed worse than they did during the first quarter. One of the most immediate challenges for candidates who have struggled to gain traction is notching enough donors to qualify for the next round of debates. (AP via MPR News)
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