Good Wednesday morning. Happy 4th of July. I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to your political

playbook audio briefing, sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Rachel Bade and John

Bresdenhan have an interview with Jim Jordan, the Freedom Caucus leader, who insists he did not

know about sexual abuse on the Ohio State wrestling team that he coached. He said, I never knew

about any type of abuse. If I did, I would have

done something about it. And look, if there are people who are abused, then that's terrible,

and we want justice to happen. The general consensus is that Brett Kavanaugh, a D.C. Circuit

appeals judge, is the favorite for President Trump's pick to the Supreme Court. Bob Cost and Josh

Dossi report that social

conservatives are wary of Kavanaugh. Senator Rand Paul called Trump to express reservations,

as did Tom Cotton. Jen Habercorn reports that whoever Trump nominates for the court will have the

opportunity to rule on abortion quite quickly. The New York Times has put a story about

Alan Dershowitz's alienation on Martha's

Vineyard on its front page. Dersowitz has given interviews to the Times and the Vineyard Times,

assuring everybody that he is okay after he wrote an op-ed, saying he has felt his social circle

turn against him since he's defended Donald Trump. Reuters reports that China has pressed Europe

for an anti-U.S. Trade Alliance.

CNN's Caitlin Collins reports that Scott Pruitt has asked the president to tap him as Attorney General.

Subscribe to Playbook at Politico.com slash Playbook.