The president will hold his first formal press conference at 3 p.m. today in more than three months, before he jets off to Martha’s Vineyard for vacation.
Obama will likely have to address questions about his newest international adversary, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Obama canceled his pre-G20 meeting with Putin after his Putin’s government extended temporary asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said earlier this week that there wasn’t enough progress between the two countries on key issues to make a summit constructive, but admitted that Snowden was a “factor.”
Other issues likely to come up during the press conference include the political crisis in Egypt, the civil war in Syria, the terrorism threats in the Middle East that forced embassy closures, the upcoming budget battle, as well as the president’s continued push for comprehensive immigration reform. - Read more at NPR
THE HILL: 10 QUESTIONS FOR OBAMA
JPMORGAN TO ADMIT WRONGDOING IN LONDON WHALE CASE JPMorgan Chase is in talks with U.S. securities regulators and may admit to wrongdoing in order to end a year-long probe of derivatives bets that led to the bank’s biggest trading loss ever of nearly $6 billion.
JPMorgan is accused of holding back information from regulators about its mounting losses. A Senate report released in March alleged that the bank hid losses for three months last year and overstated the value of its trading positions. The bank is pushing back against paying a penalty, arguing that its shareholders suffered enough from the $6 billion loss. - Read more at Bloomberg
IRS CANCELS ANOTHER FURLOUGH DAY The scandal-ridden Internal Revenue Service will no longer be furloughing all of its workers on Aug. 30--its last scheduled furlough day. This is the second furlough day within the last month that the agency has managed to avoid. Acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said other “cost-cutting” measures have been adopted. - Read more at GovExec
GALLUP: FED JOB CREATION DECLINES AMID SEQUESTRATION According to Gallup’s Job Creation Index, 42 percent of federal workers said their employer was letting people go, up from 34 percent in February and 37 percent in June. Just 25 percent reported their agency was hiring in July. Gallup attributed the slowdown in hiring to sequestration. “Although these automatic spending cuts went into effect in early March, it is possible that the pace of furloughs and layoffs increased in July as federal agencies moved to implement the staffing component of budget cuts.” - See the poll here
