'Start Here': White House counsel's exit, Nixon debates Cuomo and a tennis shirt controversy. What you need to know to start your day.
Donald Trump says White House counsel Don McGahn will leave in the fall.
It's Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018. Here are some of the stories we're talking about on ABC News' new daily podcast, "Start Here."
1. White House counsel Don McGahn to leave this fall, Trump says
President Donald Trump announced in a tweet yesterday that White House counsel Don McGahn would be leaving his job in the fall. While top Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Chuck Grassley lamented his exit, ABC News White House Correspondent Tara Palmeri tells us McGahn "made it no secret that he had a desire to leave."
"A source close to him said to me it's not so much shocking that he's leaving," Palmeri said, "it's shocking that he's actually lasted this long."
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2. Cuomo and Nixon face off in heated debate
As progressives across the country hope to seize upon anti-Trump momentum and take on "establishment" Democrats, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and actress Cynthia Nixon shared a stage last night for their one and only Democratic debate in the race for governor.
ABC News' Claire Brinberg, the politics editor for "World News Tonight with David Muir," breaks down the state of politics in New York and the playbook for Nixon and Cuomo ahead of the primary.
3. Lawmakers urge sanctions against China over crackdown on Muslims
A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin urging the administration to sanction China over human rights abuses against Muslim ethnic minorities.
The U.S. estimates that millions of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities have been detained and put in "re-education camps" by China, according to ABC News' Conor Finnegan, who covers the U.S. State Department.
"Detainees have been forced to learn Chinese, watch propaganda videos, even renounce their ethnic identity and their religious beliefs," he tells us.
4. Shirt controversy at the US Open
Yesterday, French tennis player Alize Cornet spent much of her day at the U.S. Open tennis tournament answering questions about the moment where she was assessed a penalty for removing her shirt on the court.
ABC News’ Adrienne Bankert says while other players were alleging sexism, Cornet did not see it that way.
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