Following President Trump's baseless assertion Thursday that the death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico was inflated by Democrats in order to make him look bad, White House aides are trying their best to ignore the outrage.

A new report from Politico on Friday notes that most White House officials have declined to provide on-the-record comments about the tweet. Aides are additionally hoping that news coverage of Hurricane Florence will overshadow what the president said, Politico reports.

The report notes that White House aides increasingly feel that it's pointless to try to prevent Trump from making bombastic Twitter statements, so the new strategy is to simply ignore them and hope the media moves on to the next story. The Washington Post also reports that Trump's advisers were "baffled" by the tweet.

Since Trump's statement, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley offered a slight defense, saying that while "every death from Hurricane Maria is a horror," the "liberal media" has attempted to exploit the tragedy with "a constant stream of misinformation and false accusations," per CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins.

But Gidley did not specifically affirm Trump's claim that the independent study, which concluded that nearly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria, is wrong. Sam Stein, a reporter for The Daily Beast, said Thursday that he asked the White House three times to clarify whether they were disputing the findings of the study, but they would not provide a response. Brendan Morrow

Special Counsel Robert Mueller will testify in open session to Congress at 9 a.m. on July 17, the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees announced Tuesday.

Mueller agreed to appear after he received a subpoena from House Democrats. Last month, Mueller said he did not want to testify about his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump, as he believed the report spoke for itself.

In a letter, House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) let Mueller know they would "address legitimate concerns about preserving the integrity of your work." The chairmen also released a joint statement on Tuesday, saying Americans have "demanded to hear directly from the special counsel so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia's attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign's acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates' obstruction of the investigation into that attack." Catherine Garcia

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith lambasted President Trump on Tuesday, after he told reporters migrant children being held at U.S. detention centers are treated "very well."

Last week, lawyers inspecting a Border Patrol facility in Clint, Texas, that housed about 250 migrant children described the conditions there as being "deplorable." The children wore dirty clothes, did not have access to toothbrushes, toothpaste, or soap, and were sleeping on concrete floors. When asked about humanitarian aid for the children, Trump said he hopes lawmakers pass a "humane bill," adding that Mexico is doing "much more for us than the Democrats in Congress" and his government is "treating them and doing a much better job than the Obama administration."

In response, Smith read back Fox News' reporting on how the children are being treated, and made a bold statement. "We reportedly accurately here yesterday that were these prisoners of war rather than children, withholding of those items would be violations of the Geneva Convention," he said. "That's what the president considers treating well the children of migrants who came across the border without documents."

Those kids are separated from their families, Smith continued, and while many were removed from the Clint detention center on Monday, 100 were returned on Tuesday "to that facility, which is incapable of providing toothbrushes and toothpaste and soap, where children were sitting in their own filth. Those are the facts at that facility." Catherine Garcia

The Justice Department is suing Omarosa Manigault Newman, President Trump's friend turned foe, accusing her of not filing a financial disclosure report after she was fired from the White House.

Manigault Newman met Trump while appearing on the first of several seasons of his show The Apprentice, and parlayed that relationship into a job as one his top aides. She was fired in December 2017, after less than a year in the White House. Once a government employee leaves their job, they are required to file the disclosure report, and in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington, D.C., the Department of Justice said Manigault Newman was sent reminder emails, but ignored them. The department is asking Manigault Newman pay a $50,000 penalty.

Manigault Newman's attorney, John Phillips, told USA Today this appears to be a case of the White House using the Justice Department to retaliate against his client. After she was fired, Manigault Newman became a fierce critic of Trump, writing a book about what she witnessed while working for him (in turn, he went on the attack, calling her "wacky"). Phillips said Manigault Newman wrote emails and made phone calls, asking for seven boxes of documents she needed to fill out the report; she was told they would be sent to her on May 10, after the deadline to file, but they never came, Phillips said. Catherine Garcia

Mark Morgan, an immigration hardliner and acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will soon lead Customs and Border Protection, Trump administration officials told The New York Times on Tuesday.

Morgan is replacing Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner John Sanders, who will step down in July. This is just the latest shakeup in the Department of Homeland Security, with Sanders only moving into the position two months ago. In a message to staffers, Sanders said he will "leave it to you to determine whether I was successful," and can "unequivocally say that helping support the amazing men and women of CBP has been the most fulfilling and satisfying opportunity of my career."

As head of CBP, Morgan will be responsible for processing families as they seek asylum. He has made several appearances on Fox News, praising Trump for his aggressive immigration policies, and thinks there should be more raids on undocumented migrants, the Times reports. Catherine Garcia

If anyone needs to hear this, John F. Kennedy Jr. is dead.

Believers in the far-right circle of QAnon have long held the conspiracy that the son of the former president didn't die in a 1999 plane crash. And now, they've put a fresh spin on it, suggesting on their message boards at QMap that President Trump is set to announce the definitely deceased JFK Jr. as his 2020 running mate, NBC News Ben Collins reports.

A solid bunch of Trump supporters have long believed in "Q," someone with a high level of government clearance who allegedly shares coded messages hinting at Trump's purported efforts to uproot Democrats, Hollywood elites, and the so-called deep state as a whole. They've been seen sporting Q shirts at Trump events, and were out in full force at Trump's campaign launch last week. But Q hasn't been heard from in a month, prompting believers to post extended prayers for their safe return.

Some QAnon believers think there's a reason for Q's absence: They're saving a big announcement for the Fourth of July. As Collins put it in a tweet, "The more delusional Q fans" think Kennedy Jr. himself will reveal July 4 that he's alive and that he's replacing Vice President Mike Pence on the 2020 ticket.

Trump has said he's committed to keeping Pence on the 2020 ticket, but Q would probably find some way to spin the words that came out of the president's mouth. Kathryn Krawczyk

Iván Simonovis has quite the tale to tell.

The former Caracas public safety director, who had been imprisoned for 15 years — beginning when former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was still in power — on what he insists were "bogus" charges of ordering police to open fire on pro-government demonstrators in 2004, recently resurfaced in Washington following his escape from house arrest in Venezuela. He told his story to The Associated Press, which includes rappelling down a 75-foot wall and a failed motorboat engine.

But amid the gripping details of his breakout, Simonovis provided AP with an intriguing revelation. AP reports that, to date, Venezuela has issued no response to the escape, which could signal that the country's president Nicolás Maduro might be embarrassed by his own security forces who were assigned to guard Simonovis, especially since some of them reportedly aided in his flight.

"They are active members of the Maduro government, but quietly they work for the government of Juan Guaidó," Simonovis told AP.

Guaidó has challenged Maduro's leadership, and has received backing from several countries, including the United States, which recognizes him as Venezuela's legitimate interim president. But he was unable to procure enough military support in May to launch a successful coup, despite his belief that a greater portion of the armed forces would come to his side. Read more at The Associated Press. Tim O'Donnell