Don Jr. and Collusion Claims, Reforming the VA, A National Parks Roadtrip

Coming up on today’s show:

• After reports emerged this weekend that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer with links to the Kremlin in order to gather information on Hillary Clinton’s campaign, The Takeaway looks back at all of the reported meetings between members of the Trump team and Russia with Ryan Goodman, former special counsel to the Department of Defense.

• Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, who was carried over from the Obama administration, discusses his efforts to reform the VA, and provide better healthcare and educational opportunities to America’s veterans.

• Three federal judges are hearing a case this week to determine whether the state of Texas intentionally weakened voting rights for millions of minorities. Jim Malewitz, an investigative reporter at The Texas Tribune, explains the details of the case and how it could be affected by the Supreme Court in the fall. 

• The University of Washington released a controversial study that alleges Seattle’s minimum wage hike is bad for businesses and workers. Michael Reich, a professor of economics and co-chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California at Berkeley, weighs in. 

• Takeaway Producer Oliver Lazarus examines how New York’s sanctuary city policies often fail to live up to the rhetoric from City Hall. While the Big Apple invests millions in protective services for undocumented immigrants, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has considerable jurisdiction in the city, and regularly shows up to courthouses, often without a warrant.

• Stefanie Payne, a communication strategist at NASA, and Jonathan Irish, a professional photographer represented by National Geographic, spent a year traveling to every national park in the country to celebrate the centennial of the National Parks Service. They discuss their epic 43,000 mile journey and new multimedia project today on The Takeaway. 

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich.