Trump reportedly doesn’t listen to defense chief Mattis | Prosecutors cancel Stormy Daniels meeting in Cohen probe

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President Donald Trump is relying less and less on the advice of Defense Secretary James Mattis, NBC News reports, citing current and former White House and defense officials.

“They don’t really see eye to eye,” said a former senior White House official who has closely observed the relationship, NBC reported. The report cited examples of Mattis being caught off guard by presidential announcements including Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, and Trump ordering a pause in U.S. military exercises with South Korea only after Trump had promised that concession to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The report says Trump has cooled on Mattis in part because he’s come to believe his defense secretary looks down on him and slow-walks his policy directives. Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said, “This is pure silliness,” when asked for comment on NBC’s reporting.

Stormy Daniels meeting canceled: The Associated Press reports adult film actress Stormy Daniels was scheduled to meet with federal prosecutors in New York on Monday as part of their investigation into Trump’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen, but the meeting was abruptly canceled late Sunday after it was reported by news organizations, her attorney said. AP said Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was supposed to meet with prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan in preparation for a possible grand jury appearance as they work to assemble a case against Cohen.

As AP writes, Daniels has said she had sex with Trump in 2006 when he was married, which Trump has denied. As part of their investigation into Cohen, prosecutors have been examining the $130,000 payment that was made to Daniels as part of a confidentiality agreement days before the 2016 presidential election.

Expert says Sanders broke ethics rules: A tweet by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders about her ejection from a Virginia restaurant broke federal ethics rules, according to an expert. The Guardian writes Walter Shaub, federal ethics chief under Barack Obama and briefly Trump, said Sanders “can lob attacks on her own time but not using her official position.” Sanders tweeted from her work account Saturday that she and family members were told to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va., because she works for Trump.

The owner of the restaurant, Stephanie Wilkinson, reportedly said “I would have done the same thing again. We just felt there are moments in time when people need to live their convictions. This appeared to be one.”

Tuesday primary guide: Voters in New York, Utah and other states go to the polls in primary elections Tuesday. They will decide if former Rep. Michael Grimm can make a run for his old seat after spending seven months in prison, and whether Mitt Romney can go from being a candidate for president to one for U.S. Senate. USA Today has a guide to the contests.

Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, is running for the U.S. Senate nomination to succeed the retiring Orrin Hatch. He’s battling Mike Kennedy, a member of the state legislature who represents a district south of Salt Lake City, for the nomination. USA Today says for New York Republicans, the big question is whether Grimm, who resigned his seat before pleading guilty to tax fraud and serving seven months in prison, can make a comeback.