Newsletter: Today: A Towering Tale Turns

President Trump concedes his son met with Russians at Trump Tower to get information on Hillary Clinton but claims it’s no big deal.

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A Towering Tale Turns

President Trump has denied reports he’s worried about Donald Trump Jr.’s legal jeopardy, yet in the same tweet, he has acknowledged his son met with Russian representatives “to get information on an opponent.” Last year, when news of the June 2016 encounter at Trump Tower broke, the president helped draft a misleading statement that it was primarily about adoptions. Then Trump Jr.’s emails showed it was about getting “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. The president claims he didn’t know about the meeting beforehand but says this is “totally legal and done all the time in politics.” In fact, U.S. law prohibits foreign nationals from contributing anything of value to American political campaigns. The meeting has emerged as a central part in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation.

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He’s a Gaveling Man

The first trial on charges brought by the special counsel is entering its second week, with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in the hot seat. But the center of attention so far has been the judge, T.S. Ellis III. With a mix of cantankerousness and self-deprecating humor, Ellis seems to take pleasure in schooling attorneys on not only the law but also on courtroom behavior (“Rein in your facial expressions!”) and the proper pronunciation of “Nicosia.”

Back in the Shadows

This week marks the one-year anniversary of a white supremacist rally and violent clashes in Charlottesville, Va., that turned deadly and prompted Trump’s “both sides” remarks. Though there were arrests of demonstrators in Portland, Ore., and in Berkeley over the weekend, many supporters of “white rights” have become significantly less visible in public, according to members of white supremacy groups, anti-racism activists and other observers. Still, the number of neo-Nazi groups has increased.

More Politics

-- Though Brett M. Kavanaugh, Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, was a key player in the investigation of President Clinton, he has since argued presidents should be shielded from all criminal probes.

-- The White House is scheduled to announce the reimposition of tough economic sanctions on Iran today, the first to be revived since Trump broke with the landmark Iran nuclear deal.

-- After calling Lakers superstar LeBron James and CNN broadcaster Don Lemon dumb, Trump is facing new accusations of racism.

Stifling Heat, Raging Fires: ‘This Is Not Some Fluke’

Record temperatures in July. Another heat wave hitting Southern California today. Wildfires raging across the state, including the Mendocino Complex fire, already the fourth-largest wildfire on record in California history. The harsh conditions aren’t just a blip; they follow years of trends. Scientists, who once were reluctant to link heat waves to global warming, are now speaking up. Lawmakers in Sacramento have the fires at the top of their agenda. Even Trump has weighed in with a tweet blaming water “being diverted into the Pacific Ocean.”

OUR MUST-READS FROM THE WEEKEND

-- “We are throwaways”: Driven from an Anaheim tent city, a couple struggles with addiction and the realities of Orange County’s homeless.

-- China is quietly relaxing its sanctions against North Korea, complicating matters for Trump.

-- After a controversial election in Pakistan, a tribal rights movement is carefully plotting its future.

-- Mark Massara is a legendary protector of California’s beaches. So why is he now branded a traitor? Columnist Steve Lopez explores.

-- When watering a plant is the biggest mistake you can make.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- California’s salmon industry fears it will be wiped out by Trump’s policies on water.

CALIFORNIA

-- Five people were killed when their Cessna airplane crashed near South Coast Plaza in Santa Ana, authorities say. The plane struck an unoccupied vehicle, and no one on the ground was injured.

-- Contractors building a 31-mile section of the high-speed rail project in the Central Valley have alleged that the Union Pacific Railroad is causing delays and significant cost increases.

-- Oceanside school officials have shelved a sex education program for elementary school students after parents complained the material was too graphic.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- In the shadow of Los Alamos, N.M., the birthplace of the atomic bomb, director Peter Sellars staged “Doctor Atomic.” Music critic Mark Swed calls it the most significant opera of our era.

-- The reunited cast of “Murphy Brown” discussed the show’s comeback and an elephant in the room.

-- Charlotte Rae, the actress best known for her role as Mrs. Garrett on the ’80s sitcom “The Facts of Life,” has died at age 92.

-- Where have all the romantic comedies gone? To Netflix, of course.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

On Aug. 6, 1917, Robert Charles Duran Mitchum was born in Bridgeport, Conn. Or so we believe, considering that he once gave three places of birth in three interviews in the 1970s. That was Robert Mitchum: quotable if contradictory. “I like acting,” he once said. “But I don’t want to stick to it all my life. I’ve got just one hobby — thinking.”

NATION-WORLD

-- A message that people were starving, believed to have come from someone inside a makeshift compound in rural northern New Mexico, led to the discovery of 11 children living in filthy conditions.

-- Venezuelan officials have given a more detailed description of the two drone bombs used in an attempt to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro, saying the plot was foiled, in part, by equipment designed to jam radio signals.

-- A strong earthquake struck Indonesia’s popular tourist island of Lombok, reportedly killing dozens of people, a week after another quake in the same area killed 16.

-- Members of Israel’s Druze community say the country they helped create has turned its back on them.

BUSINESS

-- CBS entertainment chief Kelly Kahl expressed support for the investigation into sexual harassment allegations against CBS Corp. leader Leslie Moonves, but maintains there’s no systemic problem with harassment in the entertainment division he has run.

-- Wells Fargo & Co. foreclosed on 400 homeowners after improperly denying them loan modifications that could have allowed them to stay in their homes, the bank said in a regulatory filing Friday.

SPORTS

-- Angels manager Mike Scioscia says a report that he’ll step down at end of the season is “poppycock.”

-- Youth soccer in the U.S. has a problem; on that, all the sport’s leaders agree. What they can’t agree on is what that problem is or how to solve it.

OPINION

-- Bugging conversations between criminal defendants and their lawyers is a very bad idea.

-- Leimert Plaza Park’s “beautification” will fence in the spiritual center of black L.A., writes Erin Aubry Kaplan.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- Osama bin Laden’s mother gives her first interview since 9/11. (The Guardian)

-- A professor argues LED lighting on a massive scale is a health problem, but it doesn’t need to be. (Aeon)

-- Who is the greatest of all time? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says the reason “there is no such thing as the GOAT is because every player plays under unique circumstances.” (The Undefeated)

ONLY IN L.A.

Buying a house is never easy, but when it’s the Brady Bunch house — the Studio City home used for the exterior shots in the 1970s TV series — the process can really tear up hearts. Lance Bass, the singer-dancer-actor of ’N Sync fame, tweeted that his offer had been accepted. The selling agent says it wasn’t a done deal. Now it looks as though it’s bye bye bye for Bass.

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