OnPolitics Today: Ivanka knows her Trump 'low point.' Do you?

Hi, hello and welcome, OP friends, to this wonderful Thursday.

It's a day we learned that Ivanka Trump is "vehemently against family separation" when she was asked at an Axios event about her father's policy that led to more than 2,500 such separations along the southern border. "That was a low point for me," she said.

It was also a low point for a lot of the kids who were taken from their parents (officials warned the experience might not be the best thing for the children), but 1,400 of them have now been reunited with their parents after the administration raced to meet a judge's deadline. Then there are the estimated 431 kids whose parents have already been deported. The government's suggestion for them: let advocacy groups like the ACLU figure it out.

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'Democracy itself is in the crosshairs' 

The Trump administration's intelligence officials sounded the alarm once again about efforts by Russia and other actors to meddle in U.S. elections. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen even dramatically declared Thursday that, "Our democracy itself is in the crosshairs." If you think that alarm has been going off for a while now, you're not wrong. Despite repeated warning bells signaling that 2016 Russian interference in 2016 wasn't a one-off, critics say President Donald Trump has been hitting the snooze button. He's called for an end to what he has dubbed special counsel Robert Mueller's "witch hunt" and expressed doubt that Russia actually meddled in the first place (he referred to the "Russian hoax" at a rally Thursday night). But Congress is stepping up: Yes, Senate Republicans blocked a measure that would have dedicated $250 million to election security, but then a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill Thursday that would impose tougher sanctions on Russia if it keeps up with the election shenanigans.

Lame ducks still fly – on the taxpayer’s dime

Some lawmaker getting ready to leave Congress are finding time to squeeze in some final perks. At least 17 retiring members of Congress have gone on overseas trips after announcing they were not going to seek re-election, according to travel information included in the Congressional Record. All the trips were on the taxpayer's dime with a total cost of nearly $190,000. There is nothing illegal about the travel, but it does raise the question of how constituents benefit from their representatives traveling right before they leave office. One government watchdog spokesman characterized many of the trips as "more like paid vacations."

Elsewhere in politics: 

• Judge rules Roger Stone aide must testify before Mueller grand jury.
• National Archives complicates Sen. Mitch McConnell's plan to confirm Brett Kavanaugh before the midterm election.
• You have to check out this painting of Trump "Crossing the Swamp."

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