A.M. Links: Don Jr. and Russia, Joe Scarborough Quits GOP

• 

  Gage Skidmore / Flickr.com

  Donald Trump Jr. appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show last night to defend his meeting with a Russian lawyer offering information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. "In retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently," he said.

• Today on Twitter, President Donald Trump praised his son's performance in that interview. "My son Donald did a good job last night. He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!"
• Vice President Mike Pence appears to be distancing himself from the unfolding Trump Jr.-Russia scandal. According to Pence's press secretary, "the vice president was not aware of the meeting" and "is not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories about the time before he joined the ticket."
• Morning Joe co-host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough is leaving the Republican Party.
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insists that there will be a vote on the Senate Republican health care bill next week.
• "A London-based monitoring group with a solid history of accurately reporting incidents from inside war-torn Syria said Tuesday that it had been able to confirm the death of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi."

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.