President Trump is under increasing pressure to find out if Saudi Arabia really murdered or abducted dissident Washington-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during an Oct. 2 visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, as Turkey says. A bipartisan group of 22 senators sent Trump a letter on Wednesday triggering a law that forces the administration to investigate Khashoggi's disappearance, leading to sanctions if Saudi Arabia is found responsible.

The White House insists Trump is taking the situation seriously. The Trump administration is "very engaged on this issue," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said Wednesday. "Senior officials, diplomats are speaking to both the kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as the government of Turkey, and we're using diplomatic channels." At the same time, Palladino tiptoed around the fact that the U.S. has no ambassador to either country, as Associated Press reporter Matt Lee pointed out:

Q: Who again — what's the name of the ambassador in Turkey right now?

PALLADINO: I don't have that in front of me right now and I – Matt —

Q: What's the name of the ambassador in Saudi Arabia right now?

PALLADINO: I see what you're getting at. Okay. We are confident in our diplomatic —

Q: The answer is that you don't have an ambassador in either place, right?

PALLADINO: We —

Q: And in fact, the charge in Riyadh has now been nominated to be the ambassador to Yemen. So just is it correct that you do not have ambassadors in place in either Ankara or Riyadh?

PALLADINO: But we have diplomatic staff, senior diplomatic officials —

Q: I'm sure you do. [State Department transcript]

Palladino went on to "reiterate our request for our colleagues in the Senate" to help the State Department "get its full team on the field," and Lee asked who Trump wanted the Senate to confirm to the vacant Saudi and Turkey ambassadorships. Palladino said he didn't "have that in front of me right now." "You're sure someone's been nominated for both positions?" Lee asked. Palladino said he'd have to check. According to the American Foreign Service Association, Trump has nominated nobody for either ambassadorship. Peter Weber

This is an early 20th anniversary gift they'll never forget.

When the Camp Fire swept through Grass Valley, California, last fall, it completely destroyed Marc and Mary Taylor's home. All of their possessions were lost in the wildfire, including decades worth of photos. Hoping she could recover some of them, Mary Taylor got in touch with the photographer, Richard Briggs, who shot their wedding on August 14, 1999.

Briggs was thrilled when he started digging around and found the negatives, telling KCRA that usually, photographers don't keep them for so long. "Luckily, they were intact," he said. "They were a little faded. I bought a scanner and scanned them all. And my wife, she's excellent in editing, and she brought back the color and the life into the photos, and from those images, I was able to make an album." He can still recall the wedding, he added, and remembers thinking, "These people are so much in love."

The Taylors cried when Briggs gave them not only their wedding album, but also the negatives, as these are the only photos they've been able to replace. "It gave us a piece of something back after losing everything," Marc Taylor said. "I don't know how to explain it. There's no words." Catherine Garcia

On Wednesday's Late Night, Seth Meyers took to task Republican leaders who are insisting that President Trump's "latest racist comments are not at all racist, despite the fact the they are definitely super racist."

As everyone knows by now, on Sunday Trump tweeted that four Democratic congresswomen of color should "go back" to their "crime infested" home countries. Three of the women were born in the United States, and the fourth arrived as a refugee from Somalia and is now a naturalized citizen. "If their country is broken and crime infested, that's on you," Meyers said. "Trump accidentally burned himself. It's like if someone said, 'Man your parents must have really screwed you up,' and that someone was your mom."

Since posting the tweets, Trump has defended himself multiple times by accusing the women of saying "horrible things" and saying over and over again that anyone who isn't happy in the United States should leave. "Trump's brain disease won't let him backtrack, no matter how far over the line he goes," Meyers said. "If he says, 'I'm going to eat this apple,' and you said, 'Dude, that's an onion,' he would stand there and eat the whole thing with tears streaming down his face."

Most of Meyers' ire went beyond Trump to Republican lawmakers who are bending over backwards not to comment on the situation, and he played a montage of some senators who fled to elevators to avoid having to speak to reporters. He also singled out Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who was a congressman during the Obama administration. In the new book American Carnage, author Tim Alberta writes that in 2016, Mulvaney said Republicans would not let "Donald Trump dismantle the Bill of Rights," and bristled at the idea that their constant pushback against Obama was racist, saying they would treat a president of their own party the same way. That's just not true, Meyers said, as Republicans "are literally hiding in elevators to avoid criticizing Trump." Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia

Netflix stock fell more than 10 percent after the market closed Wednesday, following the company's announcement that for the first time since launching its digital service eight years ago, it saw a drop in U.S. subscribers.

In the second quarter, Netflix lost 126,000 paid U.S. subscribers, and also only added 2.7 million subscribers worldwide, far below the five million investors expected. With its hit show Stranger Things now streaming new episodes, Netflix expects to add more than seven million subscribers during the current quarter. Right now, there are more than 60 million U.S. subscribers.

The market is getting more and more crowded, with Disney Plus and HBO Max set to enter the streaming world soon. In 2020, Friends, the second-most watched show on Netflix last year, will only be available to U.S. and Canadian customers on HBO Max. The Office is also leaving Netflix next year, as the show's owner, NBCUniversal, agreed to pay $100 million a year for the next five years in order to have streaming rights. Catherine Garcia

A protester armed with pictures of President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein with the words "CHILD RAPIST" disrupted Trump's Wednesday night rally in Greenville, North Carolina.

CNN reports that the man was "removed in a more aggressive manner than most protesters and pulled down behind a sign where he remained for a while as supporters took pictures." After the demonstrator was taken away with his hands behind his back, Trump said he was going "home now to mommy, and he gets reprimanded and that's the end."

Epstein, a financier, was arrested earlier this month and charged by prosecutors in New York with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy. More than a decade ago, Epstein was accused of sexually abusing girls, but pleaded guilty to felony prostitution charges instead and received a lenient 13-month jail sentence.

In 2002, Trump told New York magazine, "I've known Jeff for 15 years, terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." After Epstein's arrest, Trump said he "knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I had a falling out with him. I haven't spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you." Earlier on Wednesday, MSNBC aired footage from NBC's archives showing Trump and Epstein in 1992, laughing at a party. Trump appears to point at a woman and say "she's hot," and is also seen grabbing another woman in attendance. Catherine Garcia

President Trump continued to lob insults at four Democratic congresswomen, calling them out by name during a rally Wednesday night in North Carolina.

On Sunday, he tweeted racist comments targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), saying they need to "go back" to their home countries. The lawmakers — all outspoken Trump critics and women of color — are fueling "the rise of a dangerous, hard left," Trump said Wednesday.

After blasting Omar — who came to the U.S. from Somalia as a child and is a naturalized American citizen — and accusing her of "launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds," the crowd erupted in chants of "Send her back!" This not only echoed Trump's tweets, but also "Lock her up!" the longtime rallying cry of Trump supporters aimed at Hillary Clinton.

Trump referred to Ocasio-Cortez as "Cortez" because "I don't have time to go with three different names," and said she is a liar and behind "outrageous attacks against the men and women of law enforcement." He also asked if Pressley is "related in any way to Elvis" (who spelled his last name with just one "s") and said she "thinks that people with the same skin color all need to think the same. She said we don't need any more brown faces that don't want to be brown voices. ... Can you imagine if I said that? It would be over, right? It would be over." Catherine Garcia

The Democratic National Committee announced on Wednesday which 2020 presidential candidates will take the stage during CNN's primary debates later this month.

The candidates are: Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.); former Vice President Joe Biden; Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.); Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro; New York Mayor Bill de Blasio; former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.); Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii); Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.); Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.); former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas); Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio); Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); author Marianne Williamson; and businessman Andrew Yang.

As with the first debate in June, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass) and Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam did not qualify for this round. Newcomers to the race Tom Steyer, a billionaire investor, and former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Penn.) also did not make the cut.

The debates will be held in Detroit over two days: July 30 and 31, with both starting at 8 p.m. E.T. On Thursday night, CNN will hold a live drawing during Anderson Cooper 360 to determine the candidate lineup for each night. Catherine Garcia