Good Tuesday morning! Former President Donald Trump picks Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate; More good news for Trump’s criminal cases: Classified documents case tossed out.

First time getting the Mo Newsletter? Subscribe now.

Good morning,

The 10th annual Amazon Prime Day begins today. It’s a two-day discount event that will feature “millions” of deals for Prime members.

• The numbers are really wild: Last year, Amazon sales hit $12.7 billion during Amazon’s Prime Day event. The company sold 375 million items during the two-day discount event, up from 300 million in 2022.

  • Here are some of the best deals that Amazon is promoting.

• And look for some Amazon competitors like Walmart and Target to run their own sales.

• Also! Check out the Mo News Amazon shop for our book picks for adults and kids.

Happy shopping!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

PS: Don’t forget to refer friends & family to subscribe to the Mo Newsletter… you could get free Mo News merch — DETAILS at the bottom of this newsletter!

📌 TRUMP SELECTS J.D. VANCE AS VP AS HE MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE AT RNC

After months of public jockeying, former President Donald Trump officially named Ohio’s Sen. J.D. Vance as his Vice Presidential choice.

• The news came via his Truth Social page on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, and less than 48 hours after Saturday’s assassination attempt.

  • Trump noted Vance’s credentials and that he “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers.”

  • Donald Trump Jr., a friend of Vance, is said to have encouraged the choice. On the RNC floor he said, “I’ve seen him on TV, I’ve seen him prosecute the case against the Democrats. I think no one is more articulate than that, and I think his story, his background, really helps us a lot in the places you are going to need from the Electoral College standpoint.”

  • Trump’s sons, who are both around the same age as Vance, reportedly pushed their father to select the first-term Ohio senator. The former president apparently was on the verge of naming North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

WHO IS J.D. VANCE?
Vance, who turns 40 next month, would be one of the youngest vice presidents in history if elected.

• He has served in the US Senate for about 18 months, after winning Ohio’s Senate race in 2022. He had never held political office before. Vance’s 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, propelled him to stardom.

  • The book, which chronicles his upbringing and the struggles of many in Appalachia and the Rust Belt, was widely accepted by both liberal-elite circles and working-class Americans. After its success, Vance became a kind of spokesperson for disenfranchised voters.

• Vance called himself a “never Trump” voter back in 2016, referring to Trump as “noxious and reprehensible,” and a potential “American Hitler.” However, Vance said he realized he was wrong about the former president after witnessing his first term. He sought and received Trump’s endorsement for his 2022 Senate campaign

  • Before politics, Vance was in the Marines and was deployed to Iraq. He later attended The Ohio State University and Yale Law School, where he met his wife, Usha Chilukuri.

    • She is a high-profile attorney who clerked for conservative Supreme Court John Roberts. They have three young kids.

Both Trump and Vance have downplayed Vance’s past criticism of the former president. They appeared together as the official ticket for the first time Monday night as Trump made an emotional entrance into the RNC, with a bandage on his ear.

VANCE’S RECORD

• Vance takes a MAGA "America First" stance on many issues.

  • He is a proponent of trade tariffs and of a more isolationist foreign policy, including opposing aid for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

• Vance opposes abortion and lobbied to defeat Ohio’s constitutional amendment that ensured access to abortion. He called it a “gut punch” after the measure passed. Vance has moderated his views since competing for the VP slot, saying Republicans must accept that people don’t want “blanket bans.”

• Vance helped craft a bipartisan rail safety bill following last year's deadly train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio which has yet to receive a floor vote.

• He has encouraged Trump to defy what he calls “illegitimate” Supreme Court rulings.

• Vance has said he would have refused to certify the election on Jan. 6, 2021, if he were VP (the opposite of Mike Pence). As far as this year, he told CNN in May that he will only accept the results, “if we have a free and fair election.”

ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION UPDATE
Security is tight at the RNC, and Vance was ushered in with extra protection.

• Meanwhile, the FBI gained access to shooter Matthew Thomas Crooks' phone on Monday, but it did not help establish a motive for the attack. He also has surprisingly limited online records for a 20-year-old.

  • The Wall Street Journal found a chess profile, an account for online coding classes and a few gaming accounts associated with him.

• Crooks’s parents spoke to law enforcement, but said he didn’t appear to have any strong political leanings and had few, if any, friends.

• As for the attack, news broke yesterday that Crooks was spotted by law enforcement on a roof and alerted as a suspicious person nearly 30 minutes before he fired shots at Donald Trump.

📌 TRUMP CLASSIFIED DOC CASE TOSSED OUT BY JUDGE

The Florida judge overseeing former President Trump’s classified documents case dismissed it, saying special counsel Jack Smith was not appointed lawfully by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Smith said he will appeal the ruling.

• Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed to the bench, says Smith is a private citizen — not appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

  • It follows Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ criticism of special counsel appointments in his concurring opinion for the presidential immunity case which was released two weeks ago.

• She did not rule on whether Trump’s behavior was legal or the merits of the case. Cannon has frequently ruled in favor of Trump’s motions, only to be overruled by an appeals court several times.

Trump on Monday said the dismissal “should be just the first step,” and called for the other cases against him to also be dismissed.

REWIND
The case against Trump involved more than 100 classified documents found at his Florida estate back in August 2022.

• The indictment alleged that the documents “included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the U.S. and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for a possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”

  • Trump was charged with 40 counts of illegally retaining classified defense information and obstructing government efforts to retrieve the material.

  • Trump attorneys considered the classified documents case to be the strongest of the four criminal cases against him — in part because the acts in question mostly occurred after he left the White House.

THE RULING
Cannon’s dismissal follows arguments from Trump’s lawyers that “Jack Smith lacks the authority to prosecute.” The special counsel’s team argued that higher courts have repeatedly ruled that the attorney general has the power to appoint special counsels without Senate confirmation.

• Cannon contrasts Smith’s appointment with the special counsel overseeing the Hunter Biden prosecution, David Weiss, who was first confirmed by the Senate as a US attorney. Smith was a private citizen when he was appointed.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE CASE
The Justice Department can appeal the dismissal to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Even if it is overturned, the decision ensures that the case will not be heard before the election. If Trump wins, his Justice Department can throw out the case entirely.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Biden says he will continue criticizing Trump; Adds that his mental acuity is “pretty damn good” in new interview (NBC NEWS)

📌 RFK Jr. to get Secret Service protection after failed Trump assassination (FOX NEWS) Trump tries to get RFK Jr. to drop out and endorse (POLITICO)

📌 Jurors in Sen. Bob Menendez's bribery trial in deliberations for 2nd day (CBS NEWS)

📌 East Coast braces for record heat wave (ABC NEWS)

📌 Several blazes, including ‘megafire,’ growing in Oregon (NBC NEWS)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Israel in talks over withdrawing from Egypt-Gaza border, officials say (NY TIMES)

📌 Thailand is set to roll out a controversial $13.8 billion handout plan in digital money to citizens (ABC NEWS)

📌 After 19-year-old woman mauled to death, Romania authorizes the killing of nearly 500 bears (CBS NEWS)

📌 Suspected serial killer confesses to murdering 42 women, Kenyan police say (CNN)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 War is lead cause behind huge drop in global vaccinations, UN warns (GUARDIAN)

📌 Scientists have confirmed a cave on the moon that could be used to shelter future explorers (ABC NEWS)

📌 Elon Musk plans to give pro-Trump PAC $45 million a month (CNBC)

📌 Fed won’t wait until inflation goes down to 2% to cut rates (CNBC)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Richard Simmons said 'I know people miss me' in emotional final interview two days before death (PEOPLE)

📌 Armie Hammer says he would be dead without therapy (PEOPLE)

📌 Shannen Doherty agreed to finalize divorce from estranged husband Kurt Iswarienko one day before she died (NY POST)

📌 Details on MrBeast’s new Amazon game show (THE WRAP)

📌 Rachel Lindsay ordered to pay ex Bryan Abasolo $13K monthly in spousal support (PEOPLE)

🗓 ON THIS DAY: JULY 16

• 1935: The world’s first parking meter, known as Park-O-Meter No. 1, was installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and cost a nickel an hour.

• 1945: At 5:29 a.m., the Manhattan Project tested the first atom bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The US would end up using two additional bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki the following month.

• 1969: Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on the first manned mission to the surface of the moon, carrying Americans Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.

• 1993: ‘Free Willy’ premiered in theaters.