The Americans: A young woman who was a graduate student at American University in Washington was an agent of Russia whose mission was to infiltrate powerful conservative circles, including the National Rifle Association and conservative religious groups, according to charges revealed yesterday in federal court. There’s a picture of her with NRA honcho Wayne LaPierre.

Prosecutors say the woman, 29-year-old Maria Butina, reported to Russian intelligence operatives, a senior Russian official, and a billionaire oligarch close to the Kremlin. Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post quipped that the whole story “reads like a script from ‘The Americans’ as performed by the cast of ‘Arrested Development…'”

Butina has been accused of being part of a high-level operation to influence and steer American conservative politics. She was denied bail because she is considered a flight risk. Butina had been under investigation for some time and was arrested when she moved money out of the country, packed her worldly goods, and looked into hiring a moving company.

Prosecutors say Butina used sex as one of her tools to make friends and influence powerful conservatives. The indictment mentions an unidentified “Person 1,” a 56 -year-old man she lived with. News reports say it’s Paul Erickson, an active Republican from South Dakota who lives in DC. It took about 10 seconds before “Person 1” became an internet meme.

Lost in Translation: Butina’s court appearance came on the second day in a row that President Trump and the White House had to make a tortured retraction of something he said about Russian attempts to influence US politics.

Speaking English to an English-speaking country, the President still needs a translator.

Answering a reporter’s question about whether Russia is still targeting the US, Trump said “Thank you very much, no.” It came at a hurried moment when reporters were being ushered out of the room. “Thank you very much” is Trump’s way of telling reporters “time to go,” but he continued, “Thank you very much everybody. We’re doing very well, probably as well as anybody has ever done with Russia. There’s been no President ever as tough as I have been on Russia.”

Later, Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said what Trump really meant was “No, I won’t take any more questions.” Then he took another question.

In the second installment of an interview with CBS anchor Jeff Glor, Trump said, he laid down the law with Putin during their private meeting in Helsinki. “I let him know we can’t have this,” Trump told Glor. “We’re not going to have it, and that’s the way it’s going to be.”

The trouble is, there’s no proof he said that. There were no stenographers or staff members in the meeting. No one knows what was said other than Putin, Trump, and two translators.

Shoot the Messenger: After some of the worst days of his chaotic presidency, Trump was on Twitter this morning blaming the press. “The Fake News Media is going Crazy! They make up stories without any backup, sources or proof. Many of the stories written about me, and the good people surrounding me, are total fiction. Problem is, when you complain you just give them more publicity. But I’ll complain anyway!”

Trump has never demonstrated that anything  written or reported about him is fake.

Nailed: Trump’s tariffs on imported steel are threatening to kill a nail company located in Missouri, according to a story in The Washington Post about the fallout from the tariffs.

The Mid Continent Nail Corp. was bought by a Mexican company in 2012, which expanded the plant, taking advantage of cheaper US energy and steel imported from Mexico. Now, with a 25 percent tariff on Mexican steel, sales are down 70 percent and the company could be closed by Labor Day or moved to Mexico.

The Left Coast: The California Supreme Court has ordered a voter initiative that would divide California into three states to be removed from the November ballot. The court said the spilt might actually require a constitutional change, which can’t be done with a simple voter ballot.

Tim Draper, the California rich guy behind the “Cal 3” initiative said, “The whole point of the initiative process was to be set up as a protection from a government that was no longer representing its people. Now that protection has been corrupted.”

Money and Medals: More than 140 women who were sexually abused  by the former team doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University were honored last night with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the ESPYs, the annual awards show of the ESPN Sports network. Gymnast Aly Raisman, softball player Tiffany Thomas Lopez and gymnast Sarah Klein, who said she was Nassar’s first victim 30 years ago, each spoke. Klein chided the US Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, and Michigan State for placing “money and medals above the safety of child athletes.”

Lebanon Without Cedars: The NY Times reports that climate change is threatening the cedar tress of  Lebanon and that they could all be gone by the end of the century. They are the symbol of the country. The trees need cold winters to reproduce and are creeping higher in the mountains. In a few years they won’t have any place higher to go.

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