This is the Daily Signal Podcast for Friday, August 31st. I'm Kate Trinko.

And I'm Daniel Davis. The Senate is gearing up for its most contentious fight of the year, hearings to confirm

Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. We'll sit down today with Tom Jipping, a heritage legal

scholar and a veteran of past nomination battles.

He'll share what we should expect as the hearings kick off next week.

Plus, the Justice Department takes size in a legal fight between Harvard University and

Asian American applicants.

We'll discuss that.

But first, we'll cover a few of the top headlines.

The White House ethics lawyer, Stephan Passantino, will have his last day Friday,

according to NBC News, which cites an anonymous White House official.

President Trump announced Wednesday in a tweet that White House Council Dawn

McGann was leaving after Judge Kavanaugh was confirmed on the Supreme Court.

On Thursday, President Trump also tweeted out against some of the

narratives forming about McGann's departure. He tweeted, quote, I am very excited about the

person who will be taking the place of Don McGann as White House

Council.

I like Don, but he was not responsible for me not firing Bob Mueller or Jeff Sessions, so much

fake reporting and fake news. And the rigged

Russia witch hunt did not come into play even a little bit with respect to my

decision on Don McGann. When President Trump announced on Thursday that civilian federal employees would not receive a pay

increase next year, reversing the 2.1% increase that was scheduled to go into effect in 2019.

...